Childhood immunization during the COVID-19 pandemic in Texas
- PMID: 34020814
- PMCID: PMC8078904
- DOI: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2021.04.050
Childhood immunization during the COVID-19 pandemic in Texas
Abstract
In 2020, the state of Texas implemented coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) social distancing guidelines in order to prevent surges at Texas hospital emergency rooms and in intensive care units. As noted in other states, an unintended consequence of these activities was significant declines in childhood immunizations. After analyzing state-wide immunization register data for Texas, we observed a 47% relative decline in immunization rates between 2019 and 2020 among 5-month-olds and a 58% decline among 16-month-olds. We observed a small decline (5%) among 24-month-olds, and no decline in vaccines received at birth (Hepatitis B). Declines were larger in rural counties compared to urban. These declines are superimposed on increases in state vaccine exemptions over the last five years due to an aggressive anti-vaccine movement in Texas. There are concerns that continued declines in childhood immunization coverage due to COVID-19 could lead to co-endemics of measles and other vaccine preventable diseases.
Keywords: COVID-19; Childhood immunization; Immunization programs; SARS-CoV-2 pandemic; Texas; Vaccine-preventable diseases.
Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Conflict of interest statement
Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
Figures




References
-
- Johns Hopkins University & Medicine. Covid-19 Map - Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center, https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html; 2020 [Accessed 8 April 2021].
-
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prevent-getting-sick/social-di... 2020 [Accessed 22 November 2020].
-
- Mervosh, Sarah; Lu, Denise; Swales V. See Which states and cities have told residents to stay at home, https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/coronavirus-stay-at-home-ord... 2020 [Accessed 1 October 2020].
-
- Svitek P. Coronavirus in Texas, https://www.texastribune.org/2020/03/31/greg-abbott-texas-executive-orde... 2020 [Accessed 20 November 2020].
MeSH terms
LinkOut - more resources
Full Text Sources
Other Literature Sources
Medical
Research Materials
Miscellaneous