S2. The majority had dated health cards available for most of the interviews with the exception of the 2 years interview,
when many cards had been lost or were no longer readable due to wear and tear. Vaccination coverage at the end of follow-up ranged from 80% for the measles vaccine (95% confidence interval 76–83) to 100% for the BCG vaccine (95%CI SP600125 supplier 99–100), see Table 1 and Fig. 1 and Fig. 2, Fig. S3. The vaccination coverage rates for each vaccine at specific ages (3 months, 6 months, 12 months and 18 months) and median delays with inter-quartile ranges (IQR) are available in Table S1. The proportion of infants that had received all the vaccines was 75% (95%CI 71–79), see Fig. 3 which represents cumulative vaccination. The coverage for vitamin A supplementation based on health card information was 84% (95%CI 81–87). Of these, 68% received supplementation together with vaccines – in particular together with the BCG vaccine. Self-reported
information on vitamin A supplementation differed from health card information, with 94% reporting that their children had been given vitamin A. Timely vaccination ranged from 56% for the measles vaccine (95%CI 54–57) to 89% for the BCG vaccine (95%CI 86–91). Among those who were vaccinated late with the measles vaccine, the median age at vaccination was 64 weeks. This is equivalent to a median delay of 24 weeks from the recommended timing (11 Hydroxychloroquine cell line Fossariinae weeks delay from the end of the recommended range.) Only 18% received all the vaccines within the recommended time ranges (95%CI. 15–22). The Cox regression model revealed a dose–response relationship between mother’s education and timely vaccination, both in the univariable analysis and the multivariable models, see Table 2. This association was evident also when using years of schooling as a continuous variable (hazard ratio 0.94 per year of education; 95%CI 0.91–0.97; p < 0.001). Vaccination did not differ between the intervention and control clusters of the
intervention promoting exclusive breastfeeding for 6 months through peer counselling. Although the coverage for the individual EPI vaccines was reasonably high with the exception of the measles vaccine, timely and age-appropriate vaccination was lower. About a quarter of the vaccines were given outside the recommended time ranges. Around 75% of the children received all the recommended vaccines, but only 18% got all vaccines within their recommended time ranges. The coverage rates for the individual vaccines we report were slightly different from the national reported statistics from Uganda in 2008 [18] and [19]. According to these, Mbale District had a coverage rate of 85% for the third oral polio vaccine (compared to our estimate of 93%), which is higher than the national estimate of 79%. For measles, the reported number in Mbale was 105% (compared to our estimate of 80%), with a national estimate of 77%.