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Socioeconomic status and vaccine coverage during wild-type poliovirus emergence in Israel.

Wednesday, 8th of June 2016

Epidemiol Infect. 2016 May 4:1-8. [Epub ahead of print]

Socioeconomic status and vaccine coverage during wild-type poliovirus emergence in Israel.

Binyaminy B1, Bilenko N2, Haas EJ3, Grotto I2, Gdalevich M3.

Author information

1Edith Wolfson Medical Center,Directorate,Holon,Israel.

2Department of Public Health,Faculty of Health Sciences,Ben-Gurion University of the Negev,Beer-Sheva,Israel.

3Regional Office of Ministry of Health,Southern District,Beer-Sheva,Israel.

Abstract below; full text is available to journal subscribers.

In August 2013, a nationwide vaccination campaign with bivalent oral polio vaccine (bOPV) was initiated after isolation of wild-type poliovirus type 1 (WPV-1) in routine sewage surveillance in Israel. The campaign started in the Southern district and later extended to the entire country. This study examined the association between socioeconomic status (SES), and compliance with bOPV vaccine during the campaign. Nationwide data relating to SES by geographical cluster were correlated with vaccine coverage rates in the same areas. All analyses were conducted separately for Jews and Arabs. Coverage with the bOPV vaccination campaign in the Arab population (92·4%) was higher than in the Jewish population (59·2%). This difference was consistently present in all SES clusters. In the Jewish population there was an inverse correlation between SES and vaccination coverage rates (R = -0·93, P < 0·001). Lower vaccination coverage with supplemental vaccine activities in higher SES groups is a challenge that needs to be addressed in future public health events and emergencies in order to achieve satisfactory protection rates for the public.