Assessment of vaccine wastage rates, missed opportunities, and related knowledge, attitudes and practices during introduction of a second dose of measles-containing vaccine into Cambodia's national immunization program.

Introduction: Missed opportunities for vaccination (MOV) can result in inadequate protection against disease. Although healthcare provider reluctance to open multi-dose, lyophilized vaccine vials (particularly the measles-containing vaccine [MCV]) for every eligible child due to concerns about wasting vaccine is a known reason for MOV, little is known about providers' related attitudes and practices.

Methods: In 100 randomly selected health facilities and 24 districts of Cambodia, we surveyed healthcare providers and their district supervisors regarding routine vaccine administration and wastage knowledge and practices, and child caregivers (five per facility) regarding MOV.