Magnitude and Associated Factors of Delayed Immunization Among Children Aged 11 -23 Months in Edagahamus town, Tigray, Ethiopia, 2018.

Abstract Background: Delay in receiving immunization is a major public health problem that has been associated with vaccine-preventable disease epidemics. In Ethiopia, many children have not received the benefits of age-appropriate immunization; thus more than 90% of child deaths are largely due to preventable communicable diseases. Therefore, the aim of this study to assess the magnitude and factors associated with delayed immunization among 12 -23 months old children’s in Edagahamus Town, Tigray, Ethiopia, and 2018 G.C. Methods: A community-based Cross-Sectional study was carried out on July1-30, 2018. A simple random sampling method was used to select study participants. Information was collected using a structured, pre-tested questionnaire. Vaccination dates were obtained from children’s immunization cards and timeliness assessed based on the recommended age ranges. Data were entered and analyzed using SPSS version 20.0. Variable with P-value < 0.2 in bivariate was exported to multivariate. The strength of association was identified using the odds ratio with a 95 % confidence interval (CI) and the P-value of <0.05 in multivariate was taken statistically significant. Results: In this study, the overall magnitude of delayed immunization was 29.5% (95%CI 26.7-45). Private firm work of mothers (AOR=0.205 95% CI 0.068-0.617) and Mothers who attend tertiary education (AOR 0.169, 95% CI 0.032-0.882) and secondary education (AOR 0.269, 95% CI 0.114-0.636) had the protective effect of delayed immunization. But the sickness of the child (AOR= 11.8, 95% CI 6.16-22.65) was a risk for delayed immunization. Conclusions: From the study, it is concluded that the magnitude of delayed immunization for children aged 12-23 months is high (29.5%) in Edagahamus. Delayed immunizations of children were predicted by the Mother's occupation, education, and the mother considered the child was too ill to undertake vaccination when it was due. Keywords: Child immunization, Delay to be immunized, Vaccine-preventable diseases