Prevalent vaccination practices among Indian Allopathic non-pediatrician doctors for their own children: A proxy indicator of updated knowledge about childhood immunization

摘要

Background: It has been hypothesized that the general physicians and specialists other thanpediatricians operating in the private sectors of India do not access regular updates about the newer, andadditional vaccines i.e., non-national schedule vaccines. Objective: To learn the vaccination practices ofallopathic doctors operating in private sector of India followed by them in their own children, which couldserve as a proxy indicator of their knowledge about childhood immunization. Methodology: This crosssectionalstudy was conducted among non-pediatrician and non-specialist Allopathic doctors practicing inIndian private sector, whose last borne child was more than or equal to three and less than 4.5 years of ageusing an online semi-structured questionnaire. We received valid responses from 49 doctors from Delhi, UttarPradesh, Himachal Pradesh and Bihar, within a span of 30 calendar days. Results: Compliance with BCG andDPT was 100%. Around 92% babies were completely vaccinated with Oral polio drops (five doses). For rest ofthe UIP vaccines, including Hepatitis-B, HiB, Measles and Measles Mumps and Rubella combination vaccine;the coverage was poor ranging from 43-86%. Additional vaccines like IPV, Rotavirus, PCV, Varicella,Hepatitis-A and Typhoid were given only in a few of the children; maximum coverage for rotavirus vaccine(42.86%) and minimum for Hepatitis-A (4.00%). Conclusion: It could be commented that the completeimmunization till date even for the UIP vaccines was nothing better in the children of doctors when comparedwith the national statistics. It is also likely that at times doctors are unaware of the newer and additionalvaccines and their importance in vaccination schedule (presuming cost is not a limiting factor for them).