Monitoring the COVID-19 immunisation programme through a national immunisation Management system - England's experience.

BACKGROUND: In England routine vaccinations are recorded in either the patients General Practice record or in series of sub-national vaccine registers that are not interoperable. During the COVID-19 pandemic it was established that COVID vaccines would need to be delivered in multiple settings where current vaccine registers do not exist. We describe how a national vaccine register was created to collect data on COVID-19 vaccines. METHODS: The National Immunisation Management System (NIMS) was developed by a range of health and digital government agencies. Vaccinations delivered are entered on an application which is verified by individual National Health Service number in a centralised system. UKHSA receive a feed of this data to use for monitoring vaccine coverage, effectiveness, and safety. To validate the vaccination data, we compared vaccine records to self-reported vaccination dose, manufacturer, and vaccination date from the enhanced surveillance system from 11 February 2021 to 24 August 2021. RESULTS: With the Implementation of NIMS, we have been able to successfully record COVID-19 vaccinations delivered in multiple settings. Of 1,129 individuals, 97.8% were recorded in NIMS as unvaccinated compared to those who self-reported as unvaccinated. One hundred percent and 99.3% of individuals recorded in NIMS as having at least one dose and two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine were also self-reported as having at least one and two doses, respectively. Of the 100% reporting at least one dose, 98.3% self-reported the same vaccination date as NIMS. A total of 98.8% and 99.3% had the same manufacturer information for their first dose and second dose as that which was self-reported, respectively. DISCUSSION: Daily access to individual-level vaccine data from NIMS has allowed UKHSA to estimate vaccine coverage and provide some of the world's first vaccine effectiveness estimates rapidly and accurately.

Measuring the Factors Influencing the Acceptance of COVID-19 Vaccines in the Western Region of Saudi Arabia

Understanding key factors of the acceptance of COVID-19 vaccines by the community could aid governmental agencies, medical practitioners, and other entities in reducing the impact of vaccine avoidance. The study aimed to assess the factors influencing people's acceptance and refusal to receive the COVID-19 vaccination in the Western Region of Saudi Arabia. A cross-sectional study using an equestionnaire was used to collect responses from consenting participants aged over 12 who are residents in the Western Region of Saudi Arabia. A validated and pre-tested questionnaire was used that recorded socio-demographic details, awareness about COVID-19 vaccines, attitudes toward vaccination in general, and factors influencing the decision of COVID-19 vaccine compliance. The COVID-19 vaccine administration rate was 96.5%, and the most commonly administered vaccine was Pfizer-BioNTech (78%). The most widely reported influencing factor was intrinsic influences. Vaccine administration was significantly higher among those who believed COVID-19 vaccines are safe (p<0.001) and those who believed vaccines could help in controlling in pandemic (p<0.001). The public's trust in vaccines can be increased by distributing information about the vaccine's safety and undertaking health education initiatives.