Vaccination coverage in Qatar: Benchmarking with global figures

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Immunization Systems
• Vaccinology

Background:

• Vaccination is a critical public health intervention.
• Qatar's Expanded Program of Immunization (EPI) covers 15 vaccine-preventable diseases.
• Assessing national immunization system performance is vital.

Purpose of the Study:

• Evaluate Qatar's national immunization system performance.
• Determine national vaccination coverage rates.
• Benchmark Qatar's rates against regional and global data.

Main Methods:

• Utilized WHO and UNICEF vaccination coverage estimates.
• Analyzed coverage for six key vaccines (DTP3, Pol3, MCV2, HepB, PCV3, RotaC) in 2017.
• Compared national, regional, and global vaccination coverage data.

Main Results:

• Qatar's vaccination coverage exceeds 90% for all analyzed vaccines.
• Achieved 97% coverage for DTP3 and Pol3, surpassing global averages.
• MCV2 coverage reached 93%, RotaC 97%, and HepB 97%, all exceeding global benchmarks.

Conclusions:

• Qatar demonstrates high vaccination coverage rates compared to international benchmarks.
• Sustaining high coverage requires addressing challenges like cultural and language barriers.
• The national immunization system is performing effectively.