In an analysis of the impact of India’s Universal Immunization Program (UIP) on schooling attainment in adults, a subgroup analysis found a strong positive association between UIP implementation and increased school attainment for women. Women born after the UIP rollout attained 0.29 more schooling grades compared women from the same household born before UIP rollout. Among unmarried women, the UIP was associated with an increment of 1.2 schooling years, which corresponds to as much as an INR 35 (US $0.60) increase in daily wages. Thus, the researchers concluded that the UIP is also likely to improve the economic status of women in India.
Education
Children of mothers with no education or primary education are more likely to have delayed vaccinations
A study of delayed vaccination in India found that children whose mothers had no formal education were 37-81% more likely to have delayed vaccinations than children of mothers with 12 or more years of schooling [depending on the vaccine]. Children whose mothers had a primary school eduction fared only slightly better with 33-62% greater odds of getting their vaccination late, when compared to those with highly educated mothers.
Data in this analysis was from the National Family and Health Survey 4.
Children in Pakistan with educated parents are more likely to receive timely immunizations
In a large survey in Pakistan, children were about 30% more likely to receive all the national immunization program vaccinations on time if either their mother or father had a secondary school or higher level of education than those whose mothers or fathers had no formal education.
Children whose mothers have secondary education or higher are more likely to be fully immunized
Children of mothers with secondary education or higher were significantly more likely to be fully immunized than children of mothers with lower levels of educational attainment.
Children in communities with higher literacy rates are more likely to be fully immunized
Nigerian Demographic Health Survey data suggests that community literacy influences immunization status. Children in communities with low levels of illiteracy were 82% less likely to be fully immunized than children in communities with medium levels of illiteracy.
Children of uneducated mothers may be at greater risk of death than children of educated mothers
Across many South Asian and sub-Saharan African countries, children of mothers who received no formal education were nearly 3 times as likely to die before reaching age 5 as those born to mothers with some secondary education.