(056) Best practice implementation on reporting of coronavirus disease 2019 vaccine adverse events following immunization in Uasin Gishu County, Kenya

Publication Number: 393

Background: Weak vaccine safety surveillance systems in developing countries have contributed to underreporting of AEFIs undermining public confidence in immunization efforts, and contributing to low uptake of vaccines critical in the fight against communicable diseases.
This study adds information on the health workers’ detection and reporting of COVID-19 vaccine adverse events following immunization to the national pharmacovigilance database in Kenya, the knowledge of health workers on vaccine pharmacovigilance detection and reporting framework and provides information on the availability of adverse events following immunization hard copy reporting forms in the health facilities offering COVID-19 vaccination services.

Objectives: To implement vaccine safety surveillance best practices to improve reporting of adverse events following immunization (AEFI) during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination rollout in Uasin Gishu County.

Methods: This evidence implementation project used the JBI Evidence Implementation framework. The JBI Implementation approach is grounded in the audit and feedback process along with a structured approach to the identification and management of barriers and enablers to compliance with recommended clinical practices. Pre-implementation and post-implementation audit cycles conducted utilized six evidence-based practice recommendations.
Changes in compliance were measured using descriptive statistics embedded in JBI-PACES in the form of percentage changes from the baseline audit.

Results: Less than half of the AEFIs reported were in accordance with the local policy recommendation, and most of the AEFIs reported were submitted in a timely manner in the baseline and follow-up cycle. A slight improvement was recorded in the number of health facilities with AEFIs reporting forms. An improvement of 33.7% was recorded in the number of health workers providing COVID-19 vaccination services who had received education and practical training on vaccine pharmacovigilance.

Conclusions: Underreporting and delayed submission of COVID-19 vaccine AEFI was evident among the healthcare providers offering COVID-19 vaccination services, the majority of healthcare providers had received training on vaccine pharmacovigilance, and AEFI hard copy reporting forms were not adequate in the health facilities. Public education on vaccine safety before the administration of vaccines needs emphasis in order to improve reporting of AEFI.