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Comparison of administrative and survey estimates

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Macedonian camps 1999

In the Kosovar refugee camps in Macedonia, a vaccination campaign delivered all routine childhood vaccines to eligible children. The administrative coverage estimate in five of the camps was 91.2%. The numerator was all children who were given the appropriate vaccines at one of the vaccination sites during the campaign. The denominator was the number of eligible children living in the camps as determined by a count done on the last day of the campaign in each camp. Among the 91.2% of eligible children in these camps, 90.6% were fully vaccinated. The remaining had cards demonstrating complete vaccination before displacement or had contraindications to vaccination.

A few weeks later, a health and nutrition assessment survey collected data on prior measles vaccination, either prior to displacement or during the recent vaccination campaign. Measles immunization coverage was estimated to be 75.3%. Among children in the same age range as the target group for the immunization campaign, only 74.3% had been vaccinated during the campaign.

Why are these estimates of coverage so different? (click here for a possible answer)