Rates of contraindications and use of alternative vaccines in routine immunisation of children: A population based study in the Czech Republic

Contraindications and requests for alternative vaccines can have important implications on vaccination coverage but population rates of contraindications and alternative vaccination occurring in routine immunisation programmes have not been reported. We investigated the rates of contraindications, the proportion of children who fail to complete regular vaccination, and the use of alternative vaccines within the compulsory immunisation of children in the Czech Republic. We conducted a retrospective review of medical records of all 5038 children born between 1 January 2000 and 31 December 2004 and registered in 24 primary paediatric practices. Contraindications against at least one vaccine were found in 291 (5.8%) children. Contraindications were most commonly reported for the DTP-Hib vaccine (263 children, 5.2%), and the most frequent type were central nervous system disorders (171 cases). Contraindications resulted in 181 (3.6%) of incomplete immunisations by at least 1 vaccine, with 80 children (1.6%) remaining unprotected. Alternative vaccines were administered to 935 (18.6%) children; of these, 271 were due to contraindication and 664 on parental request. The rates of contraindications, incomplete immunisations and alternative vaccine use more than tripled over the study period. This study suggests that within the routine immunisation programme, contraindications occur in approximately 6% of children, and many of these children remain incompletely vaccinated.