Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practice (KAP) Study for Reducing Invalid Vaccine Doses in Routine Immunization: A Cross-Sectional Study in Urban Slums of Bangladesh

Abstract

This paper aims to assess the parental attitude, knowledge and practice regarding valid vaccination schedules and identify the reason for providing invalid vaccine doses. A cross-sectional, mixed-method study design was used. Among the 456 respondents, 99.34% have good experience in vaccination services, and 95.83% believed that this service increased their children’s immunity. But only 31.36% have proper knowledge about the number of vaccinations provided by the EPI, and only 4.17 % know about invalid vaccine doses. The parent’s knowledge score was significantly associated with mothers’ education (p-value: 0.042) and media exposure (p-value: 0.014). The immunization practice was significantly associated with the number of living children (p-value: 0.004). Our results reveal that more than 90% of respondents have completely no idea about the invalid doses. 96.71% of respondents reported that no one informed them about the invalid dose of the vaccine. The service providers opined that service charges, urban-living people’s mobility, NGO field staff workload, and inadequate EPI training are the major causes of providing invalid vaccine doses in urban slums. It is recommended that the slum authority be engaged with service providers to inform the slum people about the vaccination program to achieve the desired vaccination target.