Retrospective study of immunization errors reported in an online Information System

Prevalence of errors causing events allegedly attributable to vaccination/immunization: systematic review and meta-analysis

OBJECTIVE

To identify the prevalence of errors that caused events supposedly attributable to vaccination or immunization.

METHOD

Systematic literature review with meta-analysis carried out on the Medline, Cochrane Library, Cinahl, Web of Science, Lilacs, Scopus; Embase; Open Grey; Google Scholar; and Grey Lit databases; with studies that presented the prevalence of immunization errors that caused events or that provided data that allowed this indicator to be calculated.

RESULTS

We evaluated 11 articles published between 2010 and 2021, indicating a prevalence of 0.044 errors per 10,000 doses administered (n=762; CI95%: 0.026 - 0.075; I2 = 99%, p < 0.01). The prevalence was higher in children under 5 (0.334 / 10,000 doses; n=14). The predominant events were fever, local pain, edema and redness.

CONCLUSION

A low prevalence of errors causing events was identified. However, events supposedly attributable to vaccination or immunization can contribute to vaccine hesitancy and, consequently, have an impact on vaccination coverage.

Prevalence and underreporting of immunization errors in childhood vaccination: results of a household survey

OBJECTIVE

To investigate underreporting of immunization errors based on vaccination records from children under five years of age.

METHOD

An epidemiological, cross-sectional analytical study, carried out through a household survey with 453 children aged 6 months to 4 years in three municipalities in Minas Gerais in 2021. A descriptive analysis was carried out, and the prevalence of the error was calculated per 100 thousand doses applied between 2016 and 2021. The magnitude was estimated of the association between variables by prevalence and 95% Confidence Intervals (95%CI). To analyze underreporting, State reporting records were used.

RESULTS

A prevalence of immunization errors was found to be 41.9/100,000 doses applied (95%CI:32.2 - 51.6). The highest prevalence occurred between 2020 (50.0/100,000 doses applied) and 2021 (78.6/100,000 doses applied). The most frequent error was an inadequate interval between vaccines (47.2%) associated with adsorbed diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis (DTP) vaccine (13.7/100,000) administration. Vaccination delay was related to immunization errors (7.55 95% CI:2.30 - 24.80), and the errors found were underreported.

CONCLUSION

The high prevalence of underreported errors points to a worrying scenario, highlighting the importance of preventive measures.

Adverse event following immunization or vaccination in children in Minas Gerais: 2015 to 2020

OBJECTIVE

To describe adverse event following immunization or vaccination in children in Minas Gerais: 2015 to 2020, resulting from immunization errors in children from zero to nine years old.

METHODS

An ecological, descriptive study with a quantitative approach, based on event notifications available in the National Immunization Program Information System.

RESULTS

Among the 39,903,277 doses of immunobiologicals in children aged zero to nine, administered in the state of MG, 3,259 events of types of immunization errors were recorded, around 0.008% of the total and, of these, 91.86% did not result in adverse events and 56.02% were children under one year of age. The most frequent diagnosis was application outside the recommended age (29.12%). Among the manifestations, 71.91% were local and systemic, with fever being the most common (40.85%).

CONCLUSION

The study demonstrated that immunization errors were rare and that most of them were not associated with adverse events, which reinforces the safety of the immunization process. This undoubtedly raises reflection on the need and relevance of continuing education for health professionals.

Construction and validity of an educational video to prevent immunization errors

OBJECTIVE

to construct and validate an orientation video, based on a low-fidelity clinical simulation scenario, to prevent immunization errors.

METHODS

a methodological study with video construction, validated in two stages by different audiences. Content was selected based on a realistic simulation scenario of the vaccine administration process to a patient-actor. Items with concordance greater than 0.8 and 0.6 were considered valid, verified using the Content Validity Index (CVI) and the Content Validity Ratio (CVR), respectively.

RESULTS

judges' CVI had an average of 97.5%, and CVR, 0.9, and health professionals' CVI, 95.4%, and CVR, 0.8. Successes in administering vaccines were addressed, such as careful reading of labels, double-checking the vaccine, distractions/interruptions and error reporting.

CONCLUSIONS

the video was constructed and validated in terms of content, and can be used in training professionals working in vaccination.

Incidence of immunization errors in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil: a cross-sectional study, 2015-2019

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the incidence of immunization errors in the public health service of the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil.

METHODS

This was a cross-sectional study, based on errors reported on the National Immunization Program Information System between 2015 and 2019. A descriptive analysis and calculation of the incidence for the state's health macro-regions were performed.

RESULTS

A total of 3,829 notifications were analyzed. Children younger than 1 year old were the most affected (39.1%) and the intramuscular route accounted for 29.4% of the errors. The most frequently reported error was administration of vaccines outside minimum and maximum recommended ages (37.7%). There was a higher incidence of errors in Vale do Aço (26.5/100,000) and Triângulo do Norte (22.6/100,000) macro-regions.

CONCLUSION

Immunization errors showed a heterogeneous incidence among the macro-regions of the state of Minas Gerais, between 2015-2019, and the administration of vaccines outside minimum and maximum recommended ages was the most frequently reported error.

Analysis of immunization errors in pregnant women

OBJECTIVE

To analyze immunization errors in pregnant women from Minas Gerais, according to the absence and presence of Adverse Events Following Immunization.

METHODS

This is a cross-sectional study, carried out with data on immunization errors in pregnant women, between 2015 and 2019, registered in the Information System for the Surveillance of Adverse Events, in Minas Gerais. The trend of the incidence rate of immunization error per 100,000 doses applied was checked using Prais-Winsten models.

RESULTS

Of all notifications, 3.72% were vaccination errors with adverse events following immunization. The highest proportion of immunization errors with no adverse events (32.40%) was in the macro-region Centro and, with adverse events (27.78%), in Triângulo do Sul, both with a stationary trend in the period. Regarding the incidence rate, the macro-region with the highest immunization errors with no adverse events was Vale do Aço and the macro-region with the highest incidence rate of immunization errors with adverse events was Triângulo do Sul.

CONCLUSION

In this study, the notifications of Adverse Events Following Immunization resulting from vaccination errors with and without adverse events occurred with no significant trend within the years of the study.