Monitoring vaccination coverage is a key component of evaluating a vaccination program. At the initiative of the French Institute for Public Health Surveillance, a steering committee met with the objective of identifying and analyzing all methods used to assess vaccination coverage in France in 2000. For children under 6 years of age, the primary measure of vaccination coverage is based on the 24-month health certificates (CS24), with analysis at the departmental level by the Maternal and Child Health Services (PMI), followed by a national review of the results by the Directorate for Research, Studies, Evaluation, and Statistics (DREES) of the Ministry of Health. The PMI services regularly assess vaccination coverage among 4-year-olds, and the Student Health Promotion Services conduct a survey every two years among 6-year-olds, based on health records. The strengths and weaknesses of these various tools were analyzed. Beyond age 6, there is no systematic measurement of vaccination coverage in the population at the national level. Partial data are provided by ad hoc, geographically limited surveys conducted for certain antigens in specific age groups. Several alternative sources of information were reviewed: data from health insurance funds, occupational health services, the military, etc. Indirect measures of the implementation of vaccination policy can also be derived from monitoring sales figures provided by vaccine manufacturers. Following this initial work, the committee began a review aimed, on the one hand, at revising the methods and tools listed in this document and, on the other hand, at developing new methods for measuring coverage among older children and adults. The resulting proposals and recommendations will be the subject of a future publication. (R.A.)