Trends of vaccine wastage, March–August 2022.

Vaccine wastage remains a challenge to effective immunization; especially in low-income countries. We estimated vaccine wastage rates and assessed attributed factors in Mukono and Kalungu districts in Uganda. A mixed methods study design was utilised to estimate vaccine wastage rates for BGC, OPV, IPV, PCV, MR, DPT–HepB–Hib for 6 months prospectively from March–August 2022 and assess attributed factors in 22 health facilities. Mann–Kendall statistical test was used to assess significance of observed trends. We applied Mann Whitney U and Kruskal–Wallis H tests to compare vaccine wastage rates per vaccine by district, ownership, and type of health facility. Additionally, we administered a questionnaire among 57 health workers and conducted 15 Key Informant Interviews to understand reasons for vaccine wastage. Overall vaccine wastage rates were BCG (70%), MR (58%), DPT–HepB–Hib (21%), IPV (31%), OPV (28%) and PCV (17%); exceeding accepted vaccine wastage rates in Kalungu and Mukono districts. Significant variations were observed across the different types of health facilities [BCG (p