M. Carolina Danovaro

Pioneer Contributor Specialist (5)

Sharing our recent publication - my take home message is that we need to do better with the basis of our immunization data systems.

Recording vaccine doses administered: A global analysis of tally sheet design for infant and child immunizations.

Higgins-Steele A, Shendale S, Grevendonk J, Gacic-Dobo M, Danovaro-Holliday MC.

PLOS Glob Public Health. 2025 Oct 6;5(10):e0004973. doi: 10.1371/journal.pgph.0004973. eCollection 2025.

 Abstract

Most countries use tally sheets across immunization programmes for health workers to mark vaccine doses administered to every person, alongside home-based records, yet their design and use is poorly understood at the global level. This paper presents a multi-country analysis on routine childhood immunization tally sheet content and design sourced from the annual electronic WHO/UNICEF Joint Reporting Form on Immunization (eJRF), which collected these forms for the first time in 2024 (for 2023). Of the total submissions (N = 71) of tally sheets by reporting entities, 51 submissions met the criteria for inclusion as a valid tally sheet allowing for data extraction. The 51 tally sheets were from countries and territories across all six regions of the World Health Organization (WHO) and all four World Bank income classifications. Analy­sis showed heterogeneity in immunization tally sheet design, core data fields, and the extent to which the available tally sheets aligned with globally recommendations found in recent vaccine-specific and programmatic guidance related to catch-up vac­cination. As national immunization programmes and vaccination schedules protect against more diseases, and thereby become more complex, fit-for-purpose tally sheet design and instructions as well as support mechanisms for health workers on tally sheet use are essential, similar to what is recommended for home-based records.

Dear colleagues,

We hope you are all doing well. 

We are pleased to announce the launch of a Special Issue on Immunization Inequalities in the MDPI journal Vaccines (IF: 7.8), to be published on the occasion of World Immunization Week 2024.  As contributors to our earlier Special Issue, we have high hopes that you have kept the analyses going and may have high quality submissions you would consider submitting to this next round!

We are interested in myriad population groups and country contexts, various dimensions of inequality (as well as compound vulnerabilities), and papers that reflect on the golden jubilee of the Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI) globally (see Call Summary). Research and review articles are strongly encouraged. The deadline for submissions is 31 January 2024, but papers will receive immediate attention and be published with rapid peer review.

Vaccines has generously waived a specified number of APCs for this Special Issue. Please see below, more information on the call and reach out to us if we can help with the process or answer questions.

Call Summary

Inequalities persist in the coverage of immunization globally and across the life course. Evidence has revealed gaps or gradients in childhood and adult immunization within and across countries, and with respect to dimensions of inequality such as sex, gender, socio-economic status, place of residence and more. Yet, our understandings of patterns of inequalities in immunization remain incomplete. The year 2024 marks 50 years of the Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI). The EPI has galvanized national and global collaboration and helped set up essential infrastructure and standardized processes to universalize access to immunization. In this Special Issue, we place emphasis on research and review articles that deepen our understanding of immunization inequalities as well as highlight entry points or modalities to reduce them. We encourage submissions that apply rigorous and innovative methodological approaches, including multilevel modeling, compound and/or intersectional vulnerabilities or disadvantages, and geospatial approaches, as well as statistical and computational innovations in understanding and summarizing inequalities in immunization.

How to submit

Follow this link to submit your article

Instructions for authors are available here