Complete immunization coverage and its determinants among children in Malaysia: findings from the National Health and Morbidity Survey (NHMS) 2016

The success of the Expanded Program on Immunization among children will greatly reduce the burden of illness and disability from vaccine preventable diseases. The aim of the study was to evaluate the complete immunization coverage and its determinants among children aged 12-23 months in Malaysia.

Cross-sectional study.

Data on immunization were extracted from the 2016 National Health and Morbidity Survey. Complete immunization coverage was classified as received all recommended primary vaccine doses by the age of 12 months and verified by vaccination cards, and incompletely immunized if they received partially recommended vaccine dose or not received any recommended vaccine dose or had no vaccination card. The multiple logistic regression analyses were conducted to determine the sociodemographic factors associated with complete immunization coverage.

The overall complete immunization coverage among children (verified by cards) was 86.4% (n = 8920, 95% confidence interval: 85.4-87.4). Multivariable logistic regression analyses model revealed that factors significantly associated with complete immunization coverage were ethnicity, occupation of the mother, head of household's education level, and head of household's occupation. While sex, citizenship, household income, mother's age, and marital status were not significantly associated with complete immunization coverage.

According to the World Health Organization criteria, the present study demonstrated that the immunization coverage of 86.4% is still unsatisfactory. Thus, the current intervention program should be enhanced in order to achieve the 95% coverage for all antigens in the national vaccination program.