Tracking the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on routine infant vaccinations in the Dominican Republic

Abstract

As the COVID-19 pandemic progresses, millions of infants are unprotected against immune-preventable diseases due to interruptions in vaccination services. The direct effects of the pandemic, as well as the non-pharmacological interventions for its containment, mitigation and suppression adopted by many countries, have affected their vaccination programs. We conducted an ecological study analyzing the performance of the vaccination program in the Dominican Republic before ( 2019) and during the COVID-19 pandemic (2020). We compared annual public coverage data, analyzed trends and changes in coverage, dropout rate, and number of partially and unvaccinated infants by geographic area and COVID-19 incidence rate. Compared to baseline, coverage for all vaccines decreased by 10.4 (SD, 3.6) percent; among these, coverage for the third dose of the pentavalent vaccine decreased from 90.1% in 2019 to 81.1% in 2020. The number of partially vaccinated (n = 34,185) and unvaccinated (n = 5,593) infants increased 66% and 376%, respectively. The slight increase in the annual dropout rate (1.1%) was directly proportional to the number of COVID-19 cases per month. We found a significant association between the annual absolute change of Penta3 and the subnational Human Development Index. The pandemic significantly weakened the performance of the routine vaccination program. Interventions are needed to recover and maintain lost vaccination coverage, reducing the risk of outbreaks of preventable diseases, especially in those provinces with less human development.

Impact of COVID-19 on routine childhood immunisations in low- and middle-income countries: A scoping review

“…Approximately 80% of these studies were conducted in either the African region or the Region of the Americas. The overall decline in coverage for all routine vaccines from 2019 to 2020 ranged from 10% to 38% [ 21 , 39 ]. Reported decline in MCV ranged from 10% to 48% [ 45 , 47 ].…”

Expert consensus on the role of OM-85 in the management of recurrent respiratory infections: A Delphi study

“…31 However, during the current pandemic, a decrease in vaccination coverage was observed almost everywhere. 32 , 33 In order to significantly reduce influenza morbidity, complications, and mortality, further efforts are needed to meet the WHO recommendations (confirmed by the National Vaccine Prevention Plan) of 75% coverage as the minimum and 95% as the optimal target in at-risk patients and in subjects aged >65 y. 31 On the other hand, antibiotics are becoming less effective in recent years, as a consequence of excessive and inappropriate use causing the development of resistance by common respiratory pathogens.…”

Routine Immunization Programs for Children during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Ecuador, 2020—Hidden Effects, Predictable Consequences

“…The COVID-19 pandemic could be worsened in this area due to its being located outside of the mainland and problems related to shortages and disruptions of medical supply chains, which also affected the global vaccine distribution for routine immunizations [6]. Other studies carried out in Sierra Leone, Pakistan [11], and the Dominican Republic [33] highlighted the importance of detecting vulnerable zones to the impact of immunization programs, which are usually rural areas and subnational locations where inequities affect access to vaccination. Based on this, every country should evaluate its performance during this pandemic to strengthen its public health services and avoid possible outbreaks of several VPDs such as polio, whose eradication may be delayed in several parts of the world due to the pandemic in the current context [34], and measles, which is the main threat due to its high reproduction number [35,36].…”