Routine immunizations and new vaccine introductions have proven to be some of the best investments to improve the health of people around the globe. However, the trend in global vaccine coverage has been variable across regions, including completion of the vaccination package to meet the World Health Organization’s target of 90 percent coverage.

Several factors have been found to influence vaccine access, vaccine coverage, and completion of the vaccination schedule. In Tanzania, these factors include socioeconomic status, gender dynamics, limited knowledge on the importance of immunization, and poor access to vaccination services.

In addition, socioeconomic status in Tanzania is inadequately assessed in routine immunization to determine trends and population groups at risk of low immunization coverage and non-completion of the vaccine package. The existing immunization data collection tools, such as the tally book, monthly reporting form, and health management information system book do not capture the data elements necessary to determine the socioeconomic status of caregivers. Reporting tools provide aggregated data that do not provide the whole story on the collected data with other related factors on immunization inequities.

The immunization and vaccine development program, in support of the GAVI HSS fund, the United Nations Children’s Fund, and PATH, through the better immunization data initiative, agreed to update the Tanzania immunization registry to capture socioeconomic data from routine vaccination services in Tanzania. The data will be used for analysis to determine trends and population groups at risk of low immunization coverage and non-completion of the vaccine package.

In this report, we share the experiences of using the electronic immunization registry to accommodate assessment of immunization inequities, and the process used to develop the socioeconomic status assessment tool in Tanzania.