Selección de técnicas y determinación de objetivos en programas de vacunación

Abstract

The success of a vaccination campaign depends, among other things, on the efficacy and cost of the vaccine, ease of application, possible secondary effects, community acceptance, and degree of development of the public health services responsible for the campaign. Attempts should be made to prevent the campaign from interferign with others of equal or greater importance, and to ensure its indefinite upkeep by making both human and material resources available at the required levels. Suitable coverage of urban population centers and hard to reach rural areas is recommended, because even in countries where 70 to 80 per cent of the population has been vaccinated it is not unusual to have a sudden epidemic outbreak. There is special mention of smallpox, DPT, and poliomyelitis vaccines, some of which may be applied in combinations of two or more provided they do not interfere with each other

In the case of smallpox vaccine, a choice will have to be made among the classical methods of scarification, multipressure, multipuncture, and the various types of jet injectors available, especially those activated by a foot pump, which produce a very high yield, but are expensive

By making a careful study of the more important factors of a vaccination campaign, the morbidity and mortality figures for infectious diseases can be reduced considerably(AU)