UCLA

Monitoring childhood vaccination coverage is crucial as many low- and middle-income countries continue to work towards disrupted immunization goals post COVID-19. A proposed method to improve vaccination data collection efficiency in resource-limited settings – such as the Democratic Republic of Congo and Central African Republic – involves photographing paper vaccine cards in the field, then entering the information later at a centralized location, saving time and resources otherwise spent in the field. This evaluation included three quantitative efficiency metrics: time savings, coverage estimates, and error rates compared to the conventional in-person field interview approach. Questionnaire sections concerning image quality were analyzed via linear regression to explore associations between qualitative photo evaluations and the continuous measure of survey completion time. Initial findings reveal the photo-based method requires less time per vaccination card than the standard in-person interview method, translating to potential savings of several fieldwork days. However, issues such as duplicate data, blurry images, and data entry errors highlight the need for protocol refinement and data quality assurance measures. As technology and protocols continue to improve, photo-based methods have a strong potential to streamline vaccination card data collection as a part of coverage surveys in resource limited settings.