Assessment of vaccination Coverage and Associated Factors among Children Aged 12–23 Months In Debre Tabor Town, North West Ethiopia, 2019: Community-Based Cross-Sectional Study.

Abstract BackgroundGlobally around 2.5 million children under five years of age die every year due to vaccine-preventable diseases. Still, immunization coverage in Ethiopia is low and needs further investigation.ObjectiveThe study was aimed to assess complete immunization coverage and associated factors among children aged 12–23 months in Debre Tabor Town, Northwest Ethiopia. MethodsCommunity-based cross-sectional study was conducted among children aged 12–23 months from March 1st to March 30th, 2019 at Debre Tabor town. A two-stage cluster sampling technique was used to select 824 pairs of mothers to children from the study households. A structured questionnaire was used for data collection. Binary and multivariable logistic regression was fitted to identify the association between dependent and independent variables. ResultA total of 824 mothers/caretakers were interviewed and almost all of the children took at least a single dose of vaccine. The complete immunization coverage was 80.2%. The odd of complete immunization was; 6 times higher among mothers who gave birth at health facility than at home (AOR 6.29 [95% CI: 2.21, 17.96]), who had planned pregnancy were 4 times higher than who did not (AOR 4.08 [95% CI: 2.20, 7.55]), a home visit by health workers were 3 folds higher (AOR 3.37 [95% CI: 2.13, 5.33]) and who had good knowledge were 3 times higher than those with poor knowledge (AOR 3.48 [95%CI: 2.25, 5.38]).Conclusion and RecommendationThe prevalence of complete immunization coverage was found to be low among children aged 12–23 months compared to Ethiopia's 2019/20 target which was 95%. Mothers who deliver at the health facility, planned pregnancy, home visits by health workers, and knowledge of mothers on immunization were associated factors. Preventing unplanned pregnancy, promoting institutional delivery, and improving mother’s knowledge on child immunization intend to be strengthened.