Pandemic and vaccine coverage: challenges of returning to schools

ABSTRACT Since March 2020, Brazil has faced the pandemic of the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19), which has severely modified the way in which the population lives and uses health services. As such, face-to-face attendance has dropped dramatically, even for child vaccination, due to measures of social distancing to mitigate the transmission of the virus. Several countries have recorded a substantial drop in vaccination coverage in children, especially of those under two years of age. In Brazil, administrative data indicate the impact of the covid-19 pandemic on this downward trend, which was already an important challenge of the National Immunization Program in recent years. Many children will be susceptible to immunopreventable diseases, which reinforces the need to assess the vaccine status of schoolchildren before returning to face-to-face classes.RESUMO Desde mar ço de 2020, o Brasil enfrenta a pandemia da doença do coronavírus 2019 (covid-19), que modificou intensamente o modo de viver da população e o uso dos serviços de saúde, nos quais o comparecimento presencial caiu drasticamente, inclusive para a vacinação infantil, devido às medidas de dist anciamento social para mitigar a transmissão do vírus. Diversos países registraram queda substancial das coberturas vacinais em crianças, especialmente nas menores de dois anos de idade. No Brasil, dados administrativos apontam o impacto da pandemia de covid-19 no agravamento dessa queda, que já constituía u...
Source: Revista de Saude Publica - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Source Type: research