WHO and UNICEF estimates of national infant immunization coverage: methods and processes
Open accessAbstract
WHO and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) annually review data on immunization coverage to estimate national coverage with routine service delivery of the following vaccines: bacille Calmette-Guérin; diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis, first and third doses; either oral polio vaccine or inactivated polio vaccine, third dose of either; hepatitis B, third dose; Haemophilus influenzae type b, third dose; and a measles virus-containing vaccine, either for measles alone or in the form of a combination vaccine, one dose. The estimates are based on government reports submitted to WHO and UNICEF and are supplemented by survey results from the published and grey literature. Local experts, primarily national immunization system managers and WHO/UNICEF regional and national staff, are consulted for additional information on the performance of specific immunization systems. Estimates are derived through a country-by-country review of available data informed and constrained by a set of heuristics; no statistical or mathematical models are used. Draft estimates are made, sent to national authorities for review and comment and modified in light of their feedback. While the final estimates may not differ from reported data, they constitute an independent technical assessment by WHO and UNICEF of the performance of national immunization systems. These country-specific estimates, available from 1980 onward, are updated annually.
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The WUENIC rules-based approach may lead to flat or noisy time trends, particularly in data-sparse locations, and is not able to account for uncertainty in the estimation process.
“however, the rules-based approach may lead to flat or noisy time trends, particularly in data-sparse locations, and is not able to account for uncertainty in the estimation process.33”
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Validity of reported vaccination coverage in 45 countries
Murray, C. J., Shengelia, B., Gupta, N., Moussavi, S., Tandon, A., & Thieren, M. (2003) · The Lancet · doi:10.1016/s0140-6736(03)14411-x · Cited by 224 · see citing works
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Galles, N. C., Liu, P. Y., Updike, R. L., Fullman, N., Nguyen, J., Rolfe, S., Sbarra, A. N., Schipp, M. F., Marks, A., Abady, G. G., et al. (2021) · The Lancet · doi:10.1016/s0140-6736(21)00984-3 · Cited by 215 · see citing works
Miles, M., Ryman, T. K., Dietz, V., Zell, E., & Luman, E. T. (2013) · Vaccine · doi:10.1016/j.vaccine.2012.10.089 · Cited by 171 · see citing works
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“…member states using expert judgment and qualitative knowledge to compile primary data from available sources, WUENIC estimates use country-reported and administrative data gathered through the WHO-UNICEF Joint Reporting Form (JRF) 31–33 and are informed by data from established household surveys.”
Wassilak, S., Pate, M. A., Wannemuehler, K., Jenks, J., Burns, C., Chenoweth, P., Abanida, E. A., Adu, F., Baba, M., Gasasira, A., et al. (2011) · The Journal of Infectious Diseases · doi:10.1093/infdis/jiq140 · Cited by 120 · see citing works
Routine vaccination coverage—worldwide, 2023
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- Authors
- Burton, A.
- Affiliations
- World Health Organization (CH)
- Corresponding author
- Burton, Anthony
- ORCID
- Burton, Anthony
- Venue
- Bulletin of the World Health Organization
- Publisher
- WHO Press
- Published
- 2009-07-01
- Volume
- 87
- Issue
- 7
- Pages
- 535-541
- ISSN
- 0042-9686 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC2704038
- OpenAlex
- W2117016791
- Cited by
- 422
- References
- 1
- Citations by year
- 2026: 18 · 2025: 31 · 2024: 19 · 2023: 28 · 2022: 21 · 2021: 41 · 2020: 39 · 2019: 28 · 2018: 17 · 2017: 31 · 2016: 24 · 2015: 27 · 2014: 25 · 2013: 25 · 2012: 15
- FWCI
- 16.24
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- diamond
- doi.org
- Licence
- cc-by
- Locations
- Bulletin of the World Health Organization (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- World Bank Group
- UNICEF
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Health › Vaccine Coverage and Hesitancy
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pediatrics, Perinatology and Child Health › Global Maternal and Child Health
- Life Sciences › Immunology and Microbiology › Immunology › Immune responses and vaccinations
- Keywords
- routine immunization, BCG vaccine, DTP vaccine, oral polio vaccine, inactivated poliovirus vaccine, hepatitis B vaccine, Haemophilus influenzae type b vaccine, measles vaccine
- MeSH terms
- Data Collection, Humans, Infant, United Nations, Vaccines, World Health Organization, Immunization Programs
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