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
. 2022 Nov 30;18(5):2071079.
doi: 10.1080/21645515.2022.2071079. Epub 2022 May 13.

The impact of COVID-19 on routine vaccinations in Taiwan and an unexpected surge of pneumococcal vaccination

Nan-Chang Chiu  1   2 , Kai-Hsun Lo  3 , Chung-Chu Chen  4   5 , Shih-Yu Huang  4   5 , Shun-Long Weng  2   6 , Chung-Jen Wang  3 , Hsiao-Huai Kuo  3 , Hsin Chi  1   2 , Chi-Hone Lien  7 , Yu-Lin Tai  7 , Chien-Yu Lin  2   7
Affiliations

The impact of COVID-19 on routine vaccinations in Taiwan and an unexpected surge of pneumococcal vaccination

Nan-Chang Chiu et al. Hum Vaccin Immunother. .

Abstract

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has had substantial impacts, including disruptions in routine vaccinations. In Taiwan, COVID-19 was relatively controllable, and the reduction in routine vaccinations was not profound. The impact of the pandemic on vaccination remained unclear. We collected vaccination uptake data at our hospital and analyzed the weekly trends of different vaccines. We calculated the monthly number of vaccinations and compared consumption before and during the COVID-19 pandemic (year 2019 vs years 2020 and 2021). Except for self-paid pneumococcal conjugate vaccines (PCV13), a mild (14.6%, p < .001) monthly decrease in government-funded routine vaccination and a moderate (28.2%, p = .018) monthly decrease in self-paid vaccination were observed during the COVID-19 pandemic. Interestingly, an unexpected surge of PCV13 vaccination occurred with a 355.8% increase. The shortage of COVID-19 vaccines and the potential benefits of PCV13 against COVID-19 may have contributed to this surge. In conclusion, our study found an obvious disruption of vaccination rates in Taiwan during the COVID-19 epidemic. However, an increase in PCV13 vaccination was also observed, and the important role of the infodemic was emphasized.

Keywords: COVID-19; disruption; immunization; infodemic; pneumococcal vaccinaion; vaccination.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
COVID-19 daily new cases and vaccination rate in Taiwan.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Trends of vaccine uptake during the study period.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Our World in Data . Coronavirus Pandemic (COVID-19). [accessed 2021 Nov 30]. https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus
    1. WHO . Coronavirus disease (COVID-19): Vaccines. [accessed 2021 Nov 30]. https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019
    1. Causey K, Fullman N, Sorensen RJD, Galles NC, Zheng P, Aravkin A, Danovaro-Holliday MC, Martinez-Piedra R, Sodha SV, Velandia-González MP, et al. Estimating global and regional disruptions to routine childhood vaccine coverage during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020: a modelling study. Lancet. 2021;398:522–9. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(21)01337-4. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. WHO . Pulse survey on continuity of essential health services during the COVID-19 pandemic: interim report, 2020. Aug 27.
    1. Feldman AG, O’-Leary ST, Danziger-Isakov L.. The risk of resurgence in vaccine-preventable infections due to coronavirus disease 2019-related gaps in immunization. Clin Infect Dis. 2021;73:1920–23. doi: 10.1093/cid/ciab127. - DOI - PMC - PubMed