Peer-reviewed article
Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on vaccine coverage for early childhood vaccines in Alberta, Canada: a population-based retrospective cohort study
Shannon E. MacDonald, Yuba Raj Paudel, Marilou Kiely, Ellen Rafferty, Manish Sadarangani et al. ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This study examined how the COVID-19 pandemic affected childhood vaccination rates in Alberta, Canada by comparing vaccination coverage in 2020 to 2019. Vaccination coverage dropped significantly in April 2020, with measles vaccine coverage falling nearly 10 percentage points compared to the previous year. While coverage improved from May to July 2020, some vaccines experienced another decline in September to October. The study found that children due for measles vaccination were most affected and may need additional catch-up doses.
Key points
- In April 2020, measles vaccine coverage was 9.9% lower than April 2019
- Pertussis-containing vaccine coverage declined by 4.9% to 8.8% across different doses in April 2020
- Rotavirus vaccine coverage declined by 4.0% to 7.1% across different doses in April 2020
- Monthly coverage improved during May to July 2020 but declined again in September to October 2020
- Measles-containing vaccine showed the largest cumulative difference in coverage by the end of follow-up
Limitations
This study describes coverage rates during the pandemic but does not explain the reasons for vaccination delays or the consequences of reduced coverage. The analysis is specific to Alberta and may not reflect patterns in other provinces or countries with different healthcare systems.
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: To assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on early childhood vaccination coverage in Alberta, Canada. SETTING: Alberta, a western Canadian province, which has a population of 4.4 million and approximately 50 000 births annually. DESIGN: In this retrospective cohort study, population-based administrative health data were analysed to determine the vaccination coverage for measles-containing, pertussis-containing and rotavirus vaccines. PRIMARY OUTCOME MEASURE: We measured monthly and cumulative vaccine coverage. We assessed the absolute difference in monthly and cumulative coverage for each vaccine dose by comparing children due for vaccination in each month of 2019 and 2020, with follow-up to determine if missed doses were caught up later. PARTICIPANTS: We included 114 178 children in the 2019 analysis cohort and 106 530 children in the 2020 analysis cohort. RESULTS: Monthly vaccination coverage in 2020 was higher than 2019 until March, when coverage significantly declined. Comparing April 2020 to 2019, coverage was 9.9% (95% CI 7.9% to 12.0%) lower for measles vaccine; 4.9% (95% CI 3.3% to 6.5%), 7.1% (95% CI 5.2% to 9.1%), 5.2% (95% CI 3.1% to 7.4%) and 8.8% (95% CI 6.6% to 10.9%) lower for first, second, third and fourth doses of pertussis-containing vaccine, respectively; and 4.0% (95% CI 2.3% to 5.7%), 7.1% (95% CI 5.1% to 9.2%) and 4.6% (95% CI 2.4% to 6.7%) lower for first, second and third doses of rotavirus vaccine, respectively. Monthly coverage improved during May to July 2020; however, some doses experienced a second decline during September to October 2020. The cumulative coverage analysis showed that the measles-containing vaccine had the largest difference in coverage at the end of follow-up. CONCLUSIONS: Children who were due for vaccination early in the pandemic and in Fall 2020, especially those due for measles vaccination, may require additional catch-up.
Findings the Hub has extracted
Each claim below is labelled by its type of design and links back to this report.
- Intervention
- Monitoring vaccination programs and identifying children who missed doses during pandemic disruptions
- Population
- Children in Alberta, Canada due for measles, pertussis, and rotavirus vaccination in 2020 (106,530 children in 2020 cohort versus 114,178 in 2019 comparison cohort)
Key finding
Measles vaccine coverage in April 2020 was 9.9% lower than April 2019