Age-appropriate vaccination and associated factors among children aged 12-35 months in Ethiopia: A multi-level analysis

Age-appropriate vaccination is a crucial public health measure to prevent morbidity and mortality worldwide. Despite its importance, there has been insufficient emphasis on tackling this problem. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the prevalence of age-appropriate vaccination and associated factors in Ethiopia. Data from 1077 children aged 12-35months were extracted from the Ethiopian Mini Demographic and Health Survey 2019 using a prepared data extraction checklist and included in the analysis. The extracted data was analyzed using STATA version 14.0. Descriptive and inferential statistics were applied, followed by multilevel logistic regression. Significant variables were identified at p-value < 0.05 within 95% confidence level and AOR. The pooled prevalence of age-appropriate vaccination in this study was 21.17% (95%CI: 18.73-23.61). Factors like mothers age > = 40 years (AOR = 4.05, 95%CI: 1.03, 15.83), 35-39 years (AOR = 4.62, 95%CI: 1.27,16.71), 25-29 years (AOR = 4.07, 95%CI: 1.18,14.03), Maternal secondary education (AOR = 1.85, 95% CI: 1.06, 3.22), Maternal primary education (AOR = 1.60, 95% CI: 1.07, 2.41) and rural residence (AOR = 0.34, 95%CI: 0.23,0.51) were significant predictors of age-appropriate vaccinations. This study concluded that the prevalence of age-appropriate vaccination of children in Ethiopia is below the desired level. Hence, the stakeholders should prioritize timely vaccination of children, similar to as the efforts made to increase overall coverage.