ABSTRACT:
Vaccination in children under 5 years of age has proven to be one of the most cost-effective strategies for preventing infectious diseases with significant morbidity and mortality, and a high social and economic impact. This study aimed to analyze socioeconomic inequalities related to complete vaccination according to the national schedule for BCG, Hepatitis B, Rotavirus, Pentavalent, Pneumococcal, and Polio vaccines in children under 5 years of age. In this study, we analyzed data from 14,180 children between 12 and 59 months of age, included in the National Survey on Child Malnutrition (ENDI 2023-2024). We considered vaccination complete when the required number of doses for each vaccine, according to the national schedule. Poisson regressions were performed for complex samples with expansion factors. The percentage of complete vaccination was less than 95% (80% for Hepatitis B, 94% for Rotavirus, 92% for Pentavalent, 90% for Polio). Only the BCG vaccination achieved 97% coverage (95% CI 96.16–97.11). After adjusted analysis, it was observed that children of adolescent mothers (PR 0.94, 95% CI 0.89-0.98), with lower levels of education (PR 0.92, 95% CI 0.9-0.94), and of indigenous ethnicity (PR 0.93, 95% CI 0.9-0.96), had less chance of complete vaccination. Children from households in the first and second poverty quintiles, and without access to potable water, also had between 6 and 12% lower prevalence of complete vaccination. Children who did not have access to well-child checkups had a 2% lower prevalence of complete vaccination than children who had 11 or more checkups by a health professional. There are gaps in the complete vaccination in children under five years with greater socioeconomic vulnerability. It is necessary to strengthen strategies that reach these population groups, such as actively searching for children without complete vaccination schedules, catching up on doses in closed groups, and integrating vaccination into health services.