Timeliness of Bacilli Calmette-Guérin vaccination among infants in a tertiary health facility in sub-Saharan Africa

Abstract

Context: Administration of a single dose of Bacilli Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine at birth is a key component of pillar one in the End Tuberculosis strategy and has been shown to be a cost effective tuberculosis preventive intervention. However, the proportion of children vaccinated at birth varies within and across countries.
Objective: To determine the proportion of infants vaccinated with BCG at birth, identify factors associated and barriers to vaccination at birth.
Materials and methods: A cross-sectional study carried out among infants aged 0 – 12 months attending the immunization clinic at a tertiary health facility in Abuja. Frequency tables, chi square and logistic regression were used in the statistical analysis.
Results: Among 414 caregiver participants, 100%, 75.8% and 97.1% were females, with tertiary education and married, respectively. Majority (53.1%) of infants were male. Almost all (99.5%) had received BCG but only 35.3% received at birth. No association was found between receipt of BCG at birth and socio-demographic factors or maternal obstetric history. The commonest barrier to receipt at birth was the vaccine not given to infants at health facilities on birth date (p = 0.0001 OR= 14.56 CI 8.077-26.248).
Conclusion: Majority of the infants had received the BCG vaccine, however, only a small proportion had received it at birth. There is an unmet need of ensuring infant vaccination with BCG occurs daily including weekends and public holidays while increasing public awareness especially through antenatal clinics. This may help reduce child mortality and morbidity from tuberculosis.