Maternal education benefits immunization rates of all community members, not only mothers’ own children. In Nigeria, children’s odds of being fully immunized improved by 1.06 times for every additional year of education the mothers received. Children’s odds of being fully immunized increased by 1.2 times for each additional year of maternal education in the community.
Equity
Immunization reduced hospitalization disparities for children from ethnic minorities
In New Zealand, Maori and Pacific children have historically suffered high hospitalization rates for invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD), all cause pneumonia (ACP), and otitis media. Following the introduction of conjugate vaccines in the country, Maori and Pacific children’s rates of admission for IPD dropped by 79% and 67%, respectively, while significant reductions in ACP and otitis media admissions were also noted, resulting in reductions in disparities for these populations.
Socioeconomic factors affect vaccination rates, highlighting the need for targeted vaccine programs in different settings
In Tanzania, wealth and mother’s education are significant predictors of vaccination rates in both urban and rural settings. However, low paternal education, lack of antenatal care, and home births were significantly associated with low vaccination rates only in rural settings. This suggests the need for tailored vaccine programs.
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.
Immunization coverage can vary greatly between regions within a country
Full immunization coverage, within the Democratic Republic of Congo, varies drastically by region. In the province with the lowest coverage, approximately 5% of children were fully immunized, while in the province with highest coverage, over 70% of children were fully immunized.
Mothers with more decision-making autonomy are more likely to have immunized children
A study looking at the relationship between gender roles and full immunization coverage of children in Nigeria found that children of mothers who did not have decision-making autonomy were half as likely to be fully immunized than mothers with autonomy. To further assess the roles of gender and relationship power, children were nearly twice as likely to be fully vaccinated in households where only the mother contributed to household earnings compared to children whose parents contributed equally.
Children in communities with high unemployment are less likely to be fully immunized
The 2008 Nigerian Demographic Health Survey data suggest that children in communities with high unemployment were 1/3 as likely to be fully immunized than children in communities with a medium level of unemployment.
Mothers with higher education are more likely to vaccinate their children, leading to better immunization rates
A study conducted in Pakistan, designed to explore the association of maternal education and empowerment with childhood polio vaccination, showed that mothers with more education are more likely to vaccinate their children – 74% of children of mothers with higher education were completely vaccinated compared to 67% of those with primary education and only 47% of those with no education.
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.
Integrated community health interventions targeting underserved populations can lead to reductions in socioeconomic inequalities
In India, a multi-strategy community intervention, the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) was successful in reducing disparities between pregnant women who had an institutional delivery in urban and rural areas. Geographic inequities reduced from 22% to 7.6% and socioeconomic disparities declined from 48.2% to 13%. Post the NRHM period, the difference between the number of children with full vaccination i.e., Bacillus Calmette Guerin (BCG) vaccine for tuberculosis, 3 doses of Diphtheria Pertussis and Tetanus vaccine (DTP), 3 doses of Oral Polio Vaccine (OPV), and measles vaccine, in urban and rural areas was observed to be non-significant.