Coverage rates of the children vaccination programme in Greenland

• Published in: International Journal of Circumpolar Health
• Main Authors: Nadja Albertsen, Anna Rask Lynge, Nils Skovgaard, Jesper Søndergaard Olesen, Michael Lynge Pedersen
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Taylor & Francis Group 2020
• Subjects: vaccinations; greenland; arctic; tuberculosis; measles; hpv; children; who; Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine; RC955-962; Arctic; Greenland; Nuuk; Calmette; Circumpolar Health; International Journal of Circumpolar Health
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1080/22423982.2020.1721983; https://doaj.org/article/fbd7f0ad55f242128017b24baa0af752

In order to estimate the current coverage rate among all children in Greenland, we conducted an observational cross-sectional study identifying all children in Greenland eligible for a vaccination between 1 March 2018 and 16 June 2019. we found an overall national coverage of 85.4%. The national coverage for the vaccinations given at birth was 97.1%, dropping to 94.3%, 87.7% and 83.6% at ages 3, 5 and 12 months. Among children eligible for the Measles, Mumps and Rubella-vaccinations, the national coverage was 76.9% for children aged 15 months and 64.1% for children aged 4 years, but dropping to 40.9% in the districts. At preschool, the national coverage was 79.9%. Among the 12-year-old, the national coverages of the two vaccinations against Human Papilloma Virus were 88.4% and 71.6%, respectively, and for the three Hepatitis B-vaccinations 89.8%, 84.1% and 69.6%. A subgroup-analysis and test of an SMS-reminder system in Nuuk improved the coverage from 57.8% to 75.5% locally. Overall, we found a high national coverage rate among the newborn in Greenland. The national coverage rates of the remaining vaccinations were below the WHO-recommendations, however with great regional differences. Abbreviations: CVP: Children Vaccination Programme; BCG: Bacille Calmette–Guerin; EMR: Electronic medical Record system; DTPHiB: Diphtheria, Tetanus, Pertussis, Polio, Haemophilus influenza B; HBV: Hepatitis B; HPV: Human Papilloma Virus; MMR: Measles, Mumps, Rubella; SMS: Short Text Message; WHO: World Health Organization; GVAP: Global Vaccine Action Plan; EVAP: The WHO European Vaccine Action Plan.