National Childhood Vaccination Coverage Among Children Aged 1-3 and 6 years in Korea, 2018

Lee Jaeyoung, Jeong Hangjin, Kim Seonju, Yu Jeonghee, Kim Geonhun
Division of VPD control and NIP, Center for Infectious Disease Control, KCDC

Background: The most cost-benefit effective way to prevent vaccine-preventable diseases (VPDs) is to aim for and maintain vaccination coverage levels above the herd immunity threshold of disease transmission prevention. As a result, the Korean government established policies to achieve more than 95% immunization coverage through routine immunization guidelines and/or activities through the National Immunization Program (NIP). The success of the national vaccination coverage plan is an important indicator of the NIP. Therefore, the Korean Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) has been publicly reporting the national level of vaccination coverage since 2015.
Methods/results: This report examined the vaccination coverage in 2018 from the National Registration Information System via the data of 1.7 million children aged 12 months (born in 2017), 24 months (born in 2016), 36 months (born in 2015), and 72 months (born in 2012). The complete vaccination coverage of subjects aged 12, 24, 36, and 72 months in 2018 were 96.8%, 94,7%, 90.8%, and 88.3%, respectively. Also, this report described the sub-national results of the vaccination coverage rate and made suggestions for future directions.
Findings: Korea’s vaccination coverage is higher than in other developed countries such as the United States and Britain. Nevertheless, more investment and research are needed to identify vaccine hesitancy, vaccine refusal, the anti-vaccine movement, and vulnerable social groups.

Keywords: immunization, vaccination coverage, Immunization Registry Information System