OBJECTIVE: To compare children vaccine coverage during the second stage of the National Campaign of Multivaccination among Health Centers of different regions of São Paulo city, São Paulo, Brazil. METHODS: This quantitative and qualitative survey enrolled 401 children from 0-5 years old, immunized during the National Campaign of Multivaccination on August 20th, 2005, at North, South, East and West regions of São Paulo city. Standardized questionnaire for data collection was applied to get the following data: ages, gender, reason for vaccination delay, how the adults were informed about the Campaign and how knowledgeable were the adults in charge of the children about the objectives of polio immunization. Mann-Whitney test was applied to compare the children’s age by gender and chi-square test was applied to verify the association among the city regions, gender, age and vaccination delay. RESULTS: The coverage of the second stage of the Campaign, according to the National Health Department, was of 84.7%, which was below expectation. Our results showed that the East region of São Paulo city presented more children with immunization delays. This finding was justified by difficulties regarding transportation to Health Centers in this area. Television was the most efficient way to inform parents about the Campaign and the physicians, the less efficient one. CONCLUSIONS: None of the studied region reached the goal set by the National Program of Immunization (100%). Local managers and the health professionals should be sensitized regarding the importance of immunization campaigns.
immunization coverage; Health Centers; child
