Author(s)

Steeve Minto’o^1,2*, Emery Itoudi Bignoumba^3,4, Fifi Loembe^1,2, Angela Mekame^1,2, Leatitia Abang^1,2, Diane Zoua¹, Simon Ategbo²

¹Département de Pédatrie, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Libreville, Libreville, Gabon.
²Département de Pédiatrie, Faculté de Medecine, Université des Sciences de la Santé, Libreviile, Gabon.
³Département d’Hépato-gastroentérologie, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Libreville, Libreville, Gabon.
⁴Département d’Hépato-gastroentérologie, Faculté de Médecine, Université des Sciences de la Santé, Libreville, Gabon.

Background: Gabon is endemic for hepatitis B, but they have still not reached the WHO goal for Hepatitis B vaccination coverage. We aimed to determine the rate of completeness and timeliness of hepatitis B vaccination among children under 15 years of age in Libreville. Methods: Cross-sectional study conducted over 9 months, including children randomly selected from vaccination centres, nurseries and kindergartens. We collected data on the child, socio-economic characteristics of the families, and dates of administration of hepatitis B vaccines. We determined the compliance of the vaccination dates according to the vaccination start pattern. Results: We included 453 children, of whom 236 were girls, for a sex ratio of 0.92. A total of 87% (95% CI [83.9% - 90.1%]) of children had started and completed their 3 doses of vaccine before the 12^th month of age. 149 subjects had received their 3 doses on time according to the original vaccination schedule, i.e. 32.9% (95% CI [28.6% - 37.2%]). Factors significantly associated with completeness were vaccination in a public centre OR = 114 [47.2 - 347] p < 0.0001, young age at 1^st dose OR = 3 [1.6 - 5.5] p < 0.001. Age at first dose was the predictor of timeliness aOR = 1.3 (95% CI [1.2 - 1.5] p < 0.001). Conclusion: The respect for the vaccination deadlines is insufficient in our context, solutions exist to improve this situation.

Hepatitis B, Vaccination, Timeliness, Completeness, Children, Gabon

Minto’o, S. , Bignoumba, E. , Loembe, F. , Mekame, A. , Abang, L. , Zoua, D. and Ategbo, S. (2022) Completeness and Timeliness of Hepatitis B Vaccination in Preschool Children: Determinants for Good and Timely Uptake in Libreville, Gabon. Open Journal of Pediatrics, 12, 203-212. doi: 10.4236/ojped.2022.121022.