COVID-19-related disruptions to routine vaccination services in India: a survey of paediatric providers

Shet, Anita; Dhaliwal, Baldeep; Banerjee, Preetika; Carr, Kelly; DeLuca, Andrea; Britto, Carl; Seth, Rajeev; Parekh, Bakul Jayant; Basavaraj, G; Shastri, Digant; Gupta, Piyush

doi:10.1136/bmjpo-2021-001060

Cited by 18 publications

(26 citation statements)

References 5 publications

(4 reference statements)

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“…Other countries reported a slight decrease in VC rates against paediatric infectious diseases [24] and a reduced overall incidence of VPD [25][26][27], while some countries experienced a marked decrease in VC rates [28][29][30][31][32][33], slow resumption of immunisation services [34][35][36][37], or an overall negative pandemic impact on their immunisation services [38]. Indeed, the pandemic has led to global disruptions in essential health services.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Childhood Immunisation Coverage during the COVID-19 Epidemic in Italy

et al. 2022

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The COVID-19 pandemic has affected national healthcare systems worldwide, with around 282 million cumulative confirmed cases reported in over 220 countries and territories as of the end of 2021. The Italian National Health System was heavily affected, with detrimental impacts on preventive service delivery. Routine vaccination services were disrupted across the country during the first months of the pandemic, and both access to and demand for vaccines have decreased during the pandemic. In many cases, parents preferred to postpone scheduled appointments for routine paediatric vaccinations because of stay-at-home orders or fear of COVID-19 infection when accessing care. The objective of the current study was to assess the routine childhood vaccine coverage (VC) rates during the COVID-19 epidemic in Italy. We compared 2020 and 2019 VC by age group and vaccine type. The Italian Ministry of Health collected anonymised and aggregated immunisation national data through the local health authorities (LHAs). Results were considered statistically significant at a two-tailed p-value ≤ 0.05. VC rates for mandatory vaccinations decreased in 2020 compared to 2019 (range of VC rate decrease: −1% to −2.7%), while chicken pox increased (+2.2%) in 7-year-old children. Recommended vaccinations were moderately affected (range of VC rate decrease in 2020 vs. 2019: −1.4% to −8.5%), with the exception of anti-HPV in males, Men ACWY, and anti-rotavirus vaccination (VC increase 2020 vs. 2019: +1.8%, +4.7% and +9.4%, respectively). In the COVID-19 era, the implementation of coherent, transparent, and effective communication campaigns and educational programs on safe childhood vaccinations, together with the increase in the number of healthcare staff employed, is essential to support strategies to reinforce vaccination confidence and behaviour, thus avoiding health threats due to VPD during and beyond COVID-19 times.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Childhood Immunisation Coverage during the COVID-19 Epidemic in Italy

et al. 2022

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“…The need for a coordinated response across multiple levels of the health system is critical to mitigate [ 36 ] subsequent COVID-19 hits. India should use multipronged strategies such as special campaigns, localized communications, door-to-door outreach campaigns, text messaging of immunization campaigns, and implementing affordable or free immunization visits in order to sustain gains in vaccination coverage [ 37 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Although all 94 items are linked to the strategies, only 80 refer to the type of strategy to be used. The dominant focus is to manage (46) and the next is to mobilize (37). There is lesser emphasis on actions such as communicate (18), coordinate (17), educate (15), prioritize (14), redirect (9), and locate (3).…”

Section: The Us Monads Mapmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ontological Analysis of COVID-19 Vaccine Roll out Strategies: A Comparison of India and the United States of America

Sreeganga¹,

Chandra²,

Ramaprasad

2021

IJERPH

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The unprecedented outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has forced governments to devise national strategies to curtail its spread. The present study analyzes the national strategies of India and the United States for the COVID-19 vaccine roll out. The paper presents an ontology of COVID-19 vaccine roll out, maps the national strategies, identifies, analyzes the emphases and gaps in them, and proposes corrections to the same. The analysis shows that the national strategies are selective in their focus and siloed in their approach. They must be systematized to address the emerging challenges effectively. Thus, there is need for a systemic understanding and analysis to reinforce the effective pathways to manage vaccine roll out, reposition the ineffective ones, and engineer new ones through feedback and learning.

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“…Additionally, the COVID-19 pandemic caused major disruptions in routine immunization services for children in India leading to significant declines in coverage rates, particularly during lockdown periods. This left high numbers of children susceptible to vaccine-preventable diseases ( 10 , 11 ).…”

Section: Context: Addressing Gaps and Challenges For Vaccine Acceptan...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Vaccine acceptance in rural India: Engaging faith leaders as vaccine ambassadors

Banerjee

Seth

Dhaliwal

et al. 2022

Front. Public Health

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IntroductionReligious faith is a key marker of identity and shapes community perspectives and trust. Faith leader involvement in vaccine campaigns in India have been beneficial to counter misinformation regarding infectious diseases such as polio. Faith leaders are influential stakeholders who bear potential to enhance public confidence in vaccine campaigns.ContextWhile vaccine coverage has been increasing in India, inequities abound, especially in populations with historically low vaccine confidence. The COVID-19 pandemic has led to major disruptions in delivery of routine immunization services for children. To address these challenges, we co-designed interventions aimed at contextual communication strategies and peer support. Engaging faith leaders was an important part of this intervention. In this report we describe our experience and highlight the perspectives of faith leaders and their expectations of the outcomes for this intervention.Programmatic elementsThe CIVIC Project, conducted from January to December 2021 aimed to engage caregivers, community health workers and key stakeholders, particularly, faith leaders in co-designing interventions to address vaccine hesitancy in Mewat. The project, deeply rooted in community based participatory research, used a three-E approach (Exploration of community perspectives, Establishment of vaccine trust and awareness, Engagement in vaccine promotion activities) to successfully engage faith leaders in the design and dissemination of media messages advocating for vaccine acceptance and uptake.Lessons learnedThe involvement of faith leaders in the intervention benefited the community in two ways. First, faith leaders were spotlighted via videos, often disseminating advice and personal anecdotes about vaccines, thus reassuring caregivers and community members who previously expressed distrust in vaccines. Second, involvement of trusted faith leaders provided a platform for a two-way dialogue for the community to openly discuss and address myths and misconceptions regarding vaccines. This project provided the learning that co-creating interventions with faith leaders who are often gatekeepers of close-knit communities can lead to the development of vaccine positive messaging that community members relate with, motivating increased vaccine confidence.

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COVID-19-related disruptions to routine vaccination services in India: a survey of paediatric providers

Cited by 18 publications

References 5 publications

Childhood Immunisation Coverage during the COVID-19 Epidemic in Italy

Childhood Immunisation Coverage during the COVID-19 Epidemic in Italy

Ontological Analysis of COVID-19 Vaccine Roll out Strategies: A Comparison of India and the United States of America

Vaccine acceptance in rural India: Engaging faith leaders as vaccine ambassadors

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