COVID-19 is causing childhood vaccination rates to plummet, says GlobalData

The COVID-19 pandemic caused a decrease in childhood vaccinations as preventative care was disrupted by the pandemic. The lack of vaccination could lead to another public healthcare crisis as diseases kept in check by vaccinations could have an outbreak, says GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company’.

Natasha Karim, MPH, Managing Epidemiologist at GlobalData, comments: “While well-intended, keeping children from receiving vaccinations places US children and their communities at an increased risk for outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases such as measles or pertussis (whooping cough). According to GlobalData’s Pediatric Vaccines: Epidemiology Forecast to 2028 report, approximately 85% of US children ages two years or younger completed the recommended course of childhood vaccines in 2018. This percentage could potentially drop below 60% if vaccination rate trends are sustained nationwide.”

This trend could reverse as the country reopens and fear of interacting with healthcare workers abates. However, as social distancing lessens, there are unvaccinated children at risk of exposure for preventable diseases.

Public health strategies should focus on reassurance of safety due to strict control practices along with social distancing practices in treatment, such as implementing waiting room capacities, telemedicine, and drive-through clinics.

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