Small incentives improve vaccine coverage in Pakistan

Vaccine-preventable deaths account for an estimated 17% of the 8.8 million deaths worldwide each year in children under five years of age (1). In Pakistan, despite major efforts to improve immunization coverage through the Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI), low uptake and delayed immunizations leave children vulnerable to vaccine-preventable diseases. Full immunization coverage remains modest, varying by province from below 40% up to 80% (2,3). In addition, limited programmatic data are available on age-appropriate immunization coverage, which assesses whether these critical vaccines have been administered at the right time points during infancy.