Positive impact of rescheduling Bacillus Calmette-Guérin vaccination on vaccinations at birth

CONTEXT Inimitable among the trio of recommended immunizations administered to newborns at delivery centers of institutions is hepatitis B. While it is necessary for hepatitis B to be given within 24 hours of birth, the same cannot be said for Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) and zero-dose oral polio vaccine (OPV). OBJECTIVE To assess the impact of rescheduling of BCG vaccination from the current twice weekly to daily to cover newborn vaccinations at the Government Medical College, Patiala, India. MATERIALS AND METHODS Until 2015, the delivery of BCG vaccine was restricted to twice a week, but from the year 2015, the schedule was changed from twice weekly to daily. Records for the 2 years, 2014 and 2015, were obtained, i.e., before and after the change. Data on 7065 babies born from January 2014 to December 2015 were statistically analyzed for the coverage of birth dose of hepatitis B, BCG, and OPV using Microsoft Excel. Chi-square test was applied, and p < 0.05 was considered significant. RESULTS Rescheduling of BCG dose, from twice weekly to daily, the coverage of BCG and OPV zero dose increased from 54% (in 2014) to 78% (in 2015), and a marked increase from 8.2% to 42.9% was noted for the birth dose of hepatitis B. By rescheduling BCG (twice weekly to daily), the vaccine wastage increased from 21.5% to 26.2%, the difference found to be statistically insignificant. CONCLUSIONS Modification in the delivery of immunization service from twice a week to daily has had a good impact on the vaccination of newborns though the goal of achieving the ideal 100% coverage is yet to be reached. Apart from the immunization of newborns, improving parental awareness, better coordination between immunization staff and maternal health staff, improved communication, and clear delineation of responsibility and answerability in the immunization service delivery will have a good impact on the vaccination of newborns.