Enhancing Coverage of Second Booster Dose of DPT Vaccine Coverage With Parental Education: A Cluster Randomized Approach.

Objective: To assess the effect of a single clinic-based educational intervention session on parents of children aged 4.5 to 5.5 years on improving the coverage of a second booster dose of the DPT vaccine. The secondary objective was to assess the coverage of second booster dose of the DPT vaccine among children aged > 6 years and to learn about the reasons behind such dropouts, if any.

Methods: The study was conducted in two phases. In the first phase, a cross-sectional study was conducted among children aged > 6 years who were attending the pediatric OPD or IPD to determine the coverage of the second booster dose of DPT vaccine and possible reasons for dropout.   This was followed by a clustered randomized trial evaluating the effect of an educational intervention (clinic-based, single session) among parents of children aged 4.5 to 5.5 years for improving second DPT booster coverage.

Results: A total of 384 children were enrolled in the first phase, of which 233 (60.68%) were vaccinated. Subgroup analysis showed significant differences in the vaccine coverage between children from tribal-dominant and non-tribal-dominant districts (45.10% vs 63.06%, P = 0.01). Educational intervention resulted in higher vaccination coverage (77.24%) compared to 71.43% in the control arm (P = 0.300).

Conclusion: The current study showed low coverage for second booster of DPT vaccine. With educational intervention, the target immunization coverage could be attained early which has implications for reducing childhood morbidity due to vaccine-preventable diseases.