Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jul 7, 2026

Detection of Polyfunctional T Cells in Children Vaccinated with Japanese Encephalitis Vaccine via the Flow Cytometry Technique
09:37

Detection of Polyfunctional T Cells in Children Vaccinated with Japanese Encephalitis Vaccine via the Flow Cytometry Technique

Published on: September 23, 2022

Vaccination coverage in children can be estimated from health insurance data

Helen Kalies1, Rebekka Redel, Rudolf Varga

  • 1Institute for Social Paediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, Munich, Germany. kalies@uni-muenchen.de

BMC Public Health
|March 4, 2008
PubMed

Insights

Statutory health insurance billing data can effectively monitor childhood vaccination coverage. Adjustments for denominator challenges ensure reliable immunisation estimates for public health.

Area of Science:

  • Public Health
  • Epidemiology
  • Health Services Research

Background:

  • Assessing vaccination coverage in young children is crucial for public health surveillance.
  • New vaccines necessitate rapid and reliable methods for monitoring uptake.
  • Statutory health insurance (SHI) data offers a potential source for timely vaccination coverage assessment.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To evaluate the utility of routine data from statutory health insurances (SHI) for monitoring childhood vaccination coverage.
  • To compare vaccination coverage estimates derived from SHI billing data with those from continuously insured children.

Main Methods:

  • Utilized medical codes for childhood vaccinations from SHI billing data in Bavaria for children born between 2001-2002.
  • Analyzed vaccine uptake up to 24 months of age.
  • Compared coverage estimates from SHI billing data against a subset of continuously insured children.

Main Results:

  • Defining an accurate denominator from billing data was challenging due to migration and insurance changes, inflating child counts.
  • A refined dataset focusing on children with consistent insurance and physician visits yielded 111,977 children.
  • Vaccination coverage estimates using SHI data were only slightly higher (max 1.7%) than those from continuously insured children.

Conclusions:

  • Physician billing data, with appropriate denominator adjustments, is a viable tool for estimating immunisation coverage.
  • Minor overestimation in coverage estimates can occur due to children not accessing healthcare services.
  • SHI data provides a promising avenue for efficient and timely monitoring of childhood vaccination programs.
Abstract

More Related Videos

Standardization of Transfer across Labs between Flow Cytometers for Detection of Lymphocytes in Japanese Encephalitis Vaccinated Children06:22

Standardization of Transfer across Labs between Flow Cytometers for Detection of Lymphocytes in Japanese Encephalitis Vaccinated Children

Published on: February 10, 2023

Proton Therapy Delivery and Its Clinical Application in Select Solid Tumor Malignancies08:34

Proton Therapy Delivery and Its Clinical Application in Select Solid Tumor Malignancies

Published on: February 6, 2019

Related Concept Videos

Vaccinations01:51

Vaccinations

Overview
Preventive Healthcare Services01:30

Preventive Healthcare Services

Preventive healthcare services keep people healthy via frequent check-ups, screening, and counseling. They primarily aid in disease prevention rather than treating an acute or chronic illness. Preventive treatment also keeps individuals productive and energetic, allowing them to work well into their retirement years. Examples of preventive care services include:
Drug Dosing: Infants and Children01:29

Drug Dosing: Infants and Children

Pediatric patient dosages diverge from adults due to disparities in body surface area, total body water, and extracellular fluid per kilogram of body weight. The dosing regimen considers the variations in pharmacokinetics and pharmacology across distinct age groups, encompassing preterm newborns, infants, young children, older children, and adolescents. Calculation of pediatric patient doses is predicated on determining body surface area, which exhibits a superior correlation with the child's...
Types of Biopharmaceutical Studies: Controlled and Non-Controlled Approaches01:23

Types of Biopharmaceutical Studies: Controlled and Non-Controlled Approaches

Biopharmaceutical studies constitute a vital field aiming to enhance drug delivery methods and refine therapeutic approaches, drawing upon diverse interdisciplinary knowledge. In research methodologies, the choice between controlled and non-controlled studies significantly influences the study's reliability and accuracy.
Non-controlled studies, commonly employed for initial exploration, lack a control group, rendering them susceptible to biases and external influences. In contrast, controlled...
Vaccines01:21

Vaccines

Vaccines are among the most effective tools in preventive medicine, designed to prepare the immune system to recognize and combat infectious agents. By introducing antigens—substances that the immune system identifies as foreign—vaccines stimulate an adaptive immune response that leads to immunological memory. This immunological memory enables the body to mount a faster and more effective response upon future exposures to the actual pathogen.Vaccines can be categorized based on the type of...
Pharmacokinetics in Pediatric Patients: Drug Distribution01:17

Pharmacokinetics in Pediatric Patients: Drug Distribution

Drug distribution in the pediatric population exhibits unique challenges and considerations due to the physiological differences between children, particularly neonates and infants, and adults. A crucial aspect of pediatric pharmacology is understanding how these differences impact the pharmacokinetics of various drugs, necessitating age-specific dosing strategies to ensure efficacy and safety.Neonates and infants have a higher total body water content, ~75%–90% of their body weight, compared...