Knowledge of caretakers about routine immunization and reasons for partial immunization in rural areas of Jamnagar District

Background: Routine immunization (RI) is one of the most cost-effective public health interventions, first introduced in India in 1978. Yet, despite the concerted efforts of the government and other health agencies, a large proportion of vulnerable infants and children in India remain unimmunized. Objectives: Objective of this study was to know about perception of caretakers of beneficiaries about RI in terms of knowledge about vaccines and vaccine preventable diseases and reasons for missed opportunity of immunization. Materials and Methods: Community based cross-sectional study was conducted during January-June 2012 in a rural area of Jamnagar district. A total of 200 children aged 12-24 months were selected using stratified random sampling method. Results: Nearly 52% children were fully immunized. Most common reasons for partially immunization were sick child (68.9%) followed by vaccine not available (32.3%) and being outside on the day of session (31.11%). Nearly 61% Guardians knew about Polio vaccine, main source of information about RI was health worker (83.5%). There was statistical significant association between education of mother and immunization status of children. Conclusion: There is a need to strengthen Information Education Communication activities to improve knowledge regarding immunization among people, motivation of health workers to disseminate information regarding immunization. Hence, that immunization coverage should be improved.