[A study on the coverage, strategy and cost of hepatitis B vaccination in China, 1996]

To understand the coverage, strategy and cost of hepatitis B (HB) vaccination of China in recent years, a randomized two-stage household sampling survey was carried out at 112 Disease Surveillance Points(DSPs) from 25 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities of China in 1996. Results showed that the rates of HB vaccination coverage among neonates were 96.9% in the urban DSPs and 50.8% in the rural DSPs in 1993-1994, while in 7-9 year-old students both rates were 85.8% and 31.5% in 1994, respectively. Up to 1994, 97.5% of the urban DSPs and 73.9% of the rural DSPs had a neonates vaccination against HB program integrated with routine EPI. Some of the DSPs had a lower neonates coverage due to insufficient amountad unreasonable distribution of the vaccine (used for adults) and high cost. It seems necessary to evaluate the maternal prescreening program regarding the quality of serological testing to HBVMs. Remarkable achievements have been made in terms of strategy development and planning on HB immunization in China.