Yellow fever vaccination coverage and knowledge, attitudes and practices: a cross-sectional study during an epizootic...

To estimate the yellow fever vaccination coverage and describe the knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAP) of the population residing in São Sebastião, Federal District, Brazil, after confirmation of a non-human primate epizootic event in the region.

Cross-sectional study consisting of two surveys, a vaccination coverage survey and a KAP survey, between November and December 2020. Probabilistic cluster sampling (30x7) was adopted. Individuals with the yellow fever vaccine recorded in an immunization record or in the National Immunization Program Information System were considered vaccinated. Complex analysis and descriptive statistics, with absolute and relative frequencies, measures of central tendency and accuracy were used. The KAP study employed analytical statistics, adopting prevalence ratio as measure of association and 95% confidence intervals (95%CI).

In total, 210 interviews were conducted. Vaccination coverage was 54.3% (95%CI 47.70; 60.90), with 93.9% of the records obtained from the immunization record. Of the participants, 63.8% were female and 60.0% self-declared as brown. Regarding the KAP component, 70.0% presented inadequate knowledge, 87.1% presented adequate attitudes and 54.3% presented adequate practices. The prevalence of adequate attitudes among people with adequate knowledge was 11.10 times higher than among those with inadequate knowledge.

The study provided a description of the yellow fever vaccination coverage and KAP. The coverage found was below the 95.0% target established by the National Immunization Program, providing inputs that can support health surveillance and vaccination promotion initiatives.