Demography India Vol. 40, No. 2 (2011), pp. 155-167 Abhishek Kumar* and Sanjay K. Mohanty** Does Type of Reporting Explain Changes in Immunisation in India Introduction I N DEVELOPING countries, vaccine preventable diseases (VPDs) are the leading cause of under-five mortality (Anand and Barnighausen, 2007). To prevent VPDs, basic child- hood vaccinations have been integrated in the public health programme of many developed and developing countries. In developed countries, child immunisation programmes have been most successful and cost effective public health tools in preventing infectious disease during childhood. Vaccines not only protect children from potentially serious illness, but also inter- rupt disease transmission in a community (Mark and Darden, 1999). However, in developing countries including India, a large proportion of children are either not immunised at all or are partially immunised, resulting in higher infant and child mortality. The UN Millennium decla- ration had outlined reduction of under five mortality as one of the eighth goals with propor- tion of 1-year-old children immunised against measles as one of the monitoring indicators (United Nations, 2003). The World Health Organization launched the Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI) in 1974 to develop and expand immunisation programmes throughout the world. In addition, in 1977, a global goal for universal child immunisation against six basic preventable childhood diseases was articulated at the World Health Assembly (Chan et al., 1988). Under the programme, children receive one dose of BCG for protection against tuberculosis, three doses of the triple vaccine DPT (diphtheria, pertussis, and tetanus), three doses of either Injectable Polio Vaccine (IPV) or Oral Polio Vaccine (OPV) for poliomyelitis protection, and one dose of the measles vaccine. These combinations are also known as basic childhood immunisation or full immunisation in various countries and used interchangeably. *Research Scholar, International Institute for Population Sciences, Deonar, Mumbai-400 088. E-mail: abhi85_iips@rediffmail.com **Associate Professor, International Institute for Population Sciences, Deonar, Mumbai-400 088. E-mail:sanjayiips@yahoo.co.in