The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Vaccination of Children Aged 0–12 Months in Indonesia

Abstract

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic was first announced in Indonesia on March 2, 2020, which affected health services including vaccination for children. AIM: The purpose of this study was to determine whether there were differences in children vaccination in Indonesia before the COVID-19 pandemic (2019) and during the COVID-19 pandemic (2020). METHODS: This study applied cross-sectional design with the Paired Sample t-test test. The research data were obtained from the East Java Provincial Health Office in January-December 2019 and January-December 2020 which consisted of 968 first-level health-care facilities spread over 38 districts in East Java, Indonesia. RESULTS: The results of this study were 3.85–10.57, with t values of 4.348 and df 37 and p = 0.000 so that there was a significant difference in vaccination of Indonesian children before the COVID-19 pandemic and during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Mean ± SD value before the pandemic in 2019 was 18.57 ± 12.87 and during the pandemic in 2020 was 11.36 ± 9.47. CONCLUSIONS: Vaccination of children in Indonesia decreased between before and during the COVID-19 pandemic because of a policy to stay at home and avoid crowds. Parents and children were reluctant to come to the posyandu (Integrated Health Post). The involvement of posyandu cadres is needed to be able to increase child vaccination in Indonesia.

Penyuluhan Bulan Imunisasi Anak Nasional (BIAN)

“…Selain itu, penyebab tidak tercapainya cakupan imunisasi lainnya adalah kekhawatiran orang tua akan kondisi Pandemi Covid -19. Orang tua merasa cemas untuk membawa anaknya diberi imunisasi (Maghfuroh, Martini, Ekawati, Aisyah, & Turlina, 2022). Di balik manfaat imunisasi bagi manusia, tidak jarang terdapat masyarakat yang masih kurang memahami sehingga membuat anak-anak terlambat atau bahkan tidak memperoleh imunisasi sama sekali.…”