National vaccination estimates often mask important subnational disparities that are critical for improving local immunisation programme performance. This analytical cross-sectional study, conducted from 24 April to 4 May 2025, assessed vaccination coverage, dropout rates, and predictors of schedule-complete vaccination among 3,371 children aged 0–59 months in the Gushegu and Nanumba South districts of northern Ghana. Vaccination status was determined using home-based records and caregiver recall across 19 vaccine-doses. Schedule-complete vaccination was defined as receipt of all age-appropriate vaccines on the Ghana Expanded Programme on Immunisation schedule, excluding the malaria vaccine. Approximately 1% of children had never received any vaccination. Birth-dose coverage was notably low, with OPV0 coverage of 44.2% in Gushegu and 50.5% in Nanumba South, compared with BCG coverage of 98.0% and 93.6%, respectively. Coverage declined across the primary series from 96% for Penta 1 to 88% for Penta 3. Rotavirus vaccine dose 3 coverage was particularly low (40.5% for Gushegu and 44.0% for Nanumba South), despite first-dose coverage exceeding 80%. Uptake of second-year-of-life vaccines was also suboptimal, with MR2 coverage reaching only 57.6% in Gushegu and 66.1% in Nanumba South. Dropout rates for most vaccine series remained below 10%. Place of delivery, child age, and caregiver relationship to the child were significant predictors of schedule-complete vaccination. Persistent antigen-specific coverage gaps highlight the need to strengthen birth-dose delivery, improve completion of vaccine schedules, and enhance integration between childbirth and immunisation services.
No takes yet. Share an insight, caveat, or question.
Konlan et al. (2026) studied this question.