The global health crisis generated by the COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically impacted the health systems of countries. And one of the consequences that are already beginning to be noticed is its negative effect on vaccination campaigns . Social distancing measures –mainly, confinement–, the overload of health centers and the parents’ fear of contagion have slowed down or even stopped the development of these programs in many countries, including Spain. Experts are already warning of the possibility of cases and outbreaks of preventable diseases reappearing.
In April, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned of the impact of the pandemic on immunization against diseases such as measles and polio in very weakened and exposed regions. Days later, the Vaccine Advisory Committee of the Spanish Association of Pediatrics (CAV-AEP) issued a note agreed with the Spanish Society of Immunology and the Spanish Society of Pediatric Infectology in which they stated the importance of promoting the trust of families in their visits to the health center and maintain childhood vaccinations , those included in the official calendar and those not funded that are indicated, such as those for rotavirus, meningococcus B, tetravalent meningococcus and HPV in men. It is also necessary to insist on the telephone contact with the health center to make appointments.
The decrease in vaccinations is a fact . For example, in the Valencian Community the number of doses administered to babies under one year of age was 26,000 in March 2020, compared to 33,000 in the same period of the previous year. In children from one to two years old, the figure reached 7,000 this past March, which contrasts with the 12,000 administered in 2019. This has been stated by Eliseo Pastor Villalba, head of the Health Promotion and Coordination Unit of the Department of Universal Health and Public Health of the Valencian Community. It is not the only community that has detected these drops. The Minister of Health of Castilla y León, Verónica Casado, explained in one of her interventions in the regional plenary session that vaccination coverage in children up to fifteen months had been around 80%. This figure is well below the recommended thresholds for the so-called herd immunity to occur, which the WHO places above 90%.
All alarms are activated
“Vaccination services are essential. If they have been interrupted, measures should be taken to resume them as soon as possible, ”said Hans Kluge, the regional director for Europe of the World Health Organization, at a press conference. The health organization calls on countries to prevent the impact of non-vaccination by COVID-19 from worsening and that, as Kluge indicated, we are on the verge of a resurgence of diseases such as measles , which has already affected 6,000 people in the first two months of the year.
“Immunization has never been more important,” said Siddharta Datta, a vaccine expert at the international body. “Measles and other infectious diseases are very present among us. Therefore, the time to prevent them is now ”, added Datta. In this context, statements such as those of Graça Freitas, general director of Health of Portugal, take on special relevance: “Do not stop vaccinating your children; pregnant and chronic patients, get vaccinated too. It is fundamental for your protection, for the health of all, for the future ” .
By Marta Riesgo.
