Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2021 Sep;110(9):2529-2535.
doi: 10.1111/apa.15949. Epub 2021 Jun 2.

Impact that the COVID-19 pandemic on routine childhood vaccinations and challenges ahead: A narrative review

Elena Chiappini  1 , Sara Parigi  1 , Luisa Galli  1 , Amelia Licari  2 , Ilaria Brambilla  2 , Maria Angela Tosca  3 , Giorgio Ciprandi  4 , Gianluigi Marseglia  2
Affiliations
Review

Impact that the COVID-19 pandemic on routine childhood vaccinations and challenges ahead: A narrative review

Elena Chiappini et al. Acta Paediatr. 2021 Sep.

Abstract

Aim: To document the decline in vaccination coverage in the first months of 2020 as an indirect effect of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods: We performed a literature review in medical databases. Overall, 143 articles were initially retrieved, out of which 48 were selected and included in the review.

Results: Our review retrieved similar data in many countries worldwide, and, globally, preliminary data from the first 4 months of 2020 indicate a decline in diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis coverage, generally considered the marker of vaccination coverage across countries. World Health Organization recommends maintaining vaccination services, prioritising primary series vaccinations especially for measles-rubella or poliomyelitis, but it also lets each country decide whether to maintain the immunisation services evaluating the current epidemiology of vaccine-preventable diseases and the COVID-19 local transmission scenario. Successively, recovering of vaccinations should be planned. Moreover, during the pandemic, influenza vaccination should be promoted as a central public health measure.

Conclusion: Future challenges will be to maintain the vaccination programmes, especially in children younger than 2 years old and adolescents, to plan the recovery of vaccinations for subjects who postponed them during the lockdown, and to early identify any vaccine-preventable disease outbreak.

Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; children; immunisation coverage; pandemic; vaccinations.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors have no conflicts of interest do declare.

References

    1. Castagnoli R, Votto M, Licari A, et al. severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‐CoV‐2) infection in children and adolescents: a systematic review. JAMA Pediatr. 2020;174:882‐889. - PubMed
    1. Lazzerini M, Barbi E, Apicella A, Marchetti F, Cardinale F, Trobia G. Delayed access or provision of care in Italy resulting from fear of COVID‐19. Lancet Child Adolesc Health. 2020;4:e10‐e11. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Gavi, WHO, UNICEF . At least 80 million children at risk of disease as COVID‐19 disrupts vaccination efforts, warn Gavi, WHO and UNICEF. 2020. https://www.gavi.org/news/media‐room/least‐80‐million‐children‐risk‐dise.... Accessed the 26th of October 2020.
    1. World Health Organization and UNICEF . Warn of a decline in vaccinations during COVID‐19. https://www.who.int/news/item/15‐07‐2020‐who‐and‐unicef‐warn‐of‐a‐declin.... Accessed 8th Feb 2021.
    1. WHO . Guidance on routine immunization services during COVID‐19 pandemic in the WHO European Region. 2021. https://www.euro.who.int/en/health‐topics/communicable‐diseases/hepatiti.... Accessed 7th February.