Influence of Sociodemographic Factors in Measles-Rubella Campaign Compared with Routine Immunization at Mysore City

Vaccines are mostly delivered through routine immunization and catch-up campaigns. Measles-rubella (MR) campaign, one of the largest vaccination campaigns, was launched on February 8, 2017, in five states of India including Karnataka.

The objective of this study was to compare the association of various sociodemographic factors influencing routine immunization and MR campaign and to identify the reasons for nonvaccination.

A cross-sectional study was done after the end of MR campaign, by interviewing parents of 147 children aged 9 months to 5 years in urban areas of Mysore. Sociodemographic factors and measles vaccination status by routine immunization and MR campaign were studied.

The coverage of measles vaccination by routine immunization and the MR campaign was 93.9% (138/147) and 86.4% (127/147), respectively. While communication with field workers was significantly associated with both routine immunization and the MR campaign, religion and mother's educational status were associated with MR campaign (P < 0.05). The most common reason for not being vaccinated was lack of unawareness about the campaign and the location for vaccination which could have been curbed by health education.

The study has shown that there are many factors which can be prevented by the health system that might help in improving immunization coverage.