Dodgy Stats SA data casts doubt on vaccination crisis figures
South Africa's health department is questioning its own reports of a childhood vaccination crisis, citing potential inaccuracies in population data from Stats SA. Experts warn that the reported decline in vaccination rates may be a statistical anomaly rather than a total collapse of the health system.
Why it matters
Accurate census data is essential for public health planning; reliance on flawed data can lead to misinformed policy decisions and public alarm.
The health department has conceded that the precipitous decline in childhood vaccination rates it recently published may have been skewed by potentially inaccurate population figures provided by Stats SA.
The issue goes to the heart of concerns raised by critics of Stats SA’s Census 2022, which it uses to calculate midyear population estimates.
When the census was released in 2024, some of South Africa’s top demographers said it was so riddled with anomalies it was not fit for purpose and would compromise future efforts to gauge the impact of government programmes such as childhood vaccination.
Last month the health department said South Africa faced an immunisation crisis, as more than a third of the country’s infants under the age of one had not received any vaccinations at all.
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