[Vaccination status among children starting school in 1988/1989]

The vaccination status of a representative sample of 5,309 children starting school in Denmark was determined. The vaccination status of subgroups distributed according to geography, parents' occupation and working hours and the children's participation in preventive health examinations by general practitioners was compared. The study was based on a questionnaire completed by local school health services. The study comprised 10% of all children starting school in 1988 based on a stratified selection of municipalities combined with a representative selection of schools in Denmark's four largest cities. Eighty-eight percent of the children were fully vaccinated against whooping cough, 98% against diphtheria, tetanus and polio and 89% against polio with live polio vaccine. Children of immigrants had a lower rate of vaccination than other children. Children of parents not working and of single parents were more likely to be incompletely or not vaccinated than children living with two parents who were both working. A geographical variation in the vaccination status was found between the different municipalities.