Peer-reviewed article
Childhood Immunisation Coverage during the COVID-19 Epidemic in Italy
Michela Sabbatucci, Anna Odone, Carlo Signorelli, Andrea Siddu, Andrea Silenzi et al. ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-sonnet-5-5This study looked at how many children in Italy received routine vaccines during the COVID-19 epidemic. It compared national vaccination coverage in 2020 with 2019, by age group and vaccine type. Coverage for mandatory vaccines fell slightly, and coverage for recommended vaccines fell by varying amounts. A few vaccines, such as rotavirus, Men ACWY and HPV in males, saw increases. The authors call for clear communication campaigns, education programmes and more healthcare staff to support vaccine confidence.
Key points
- Coverage for mandatory vaccinations fell in 2020 compared with 2019, by between 1% and 2.7%.
- Chicken pox coverage rose by 2.2% in 7-year-old children.
- Recommended vaccinations were moderately affected, with decreases of 1.4% to 8.5%.
- Anti-HPV in males, Men ACWY and anti-rotavirus coverage increased by 1.8%, 4.7% and 9.4% respectively.
- The authors recommend coherent, transparent communication campaigns, educational programmes and more healthcare staff.
Limitations
The document is an abstract describing a comparison of aggregated national data for 2020 and 2019, so it cannot show why coverage changed or establish that COVID-19 caused the changes. It does not give details on regional differences or on the children affected.
Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic has affected national healthcare systems worldwide, with around 282 million cumulative confirmed cases reported in over 220 countries and territories as of the end of 2021. The Italian National Health System was heavily affected, with detrimental impacts on preventive service delivery. Routine vaccination services were disrupted across the country during the first months of the pandemic, and both access to and demand for vaccines have decreased during the pandemic. In many cases, parents preferred to postpone scheduled appointments for routine paediatric vaccinations because of stay-at-home orders or fear of COVID-19 infection when accessing care. The objective of the current study was to assess the routine childhood vaccine coverage (VC) rates during the COVID-19 epidemic in Italy. We compared 2020 and 2019 VC by age group and vaccine type. The Italian Ministry of Health collected anonymised and aggregated immunisation national data through the local health authorities (LHAs). Results were considered statistically significant at a two-tailed p-value ≤ 0.05. VC rates for mandatory vaccinations decreased in 2020 compared to 2019 (range of VC rate decrease: −1% to −2.7%), while chicken pox increased (+2.2%) in 7-year-old children. Recommended vaccinations were moderately affected (range of VC rate decrease in 2020 vs. 2019: −1.4% to −8.5%), with the exception of anti-HPV in males, Men ACWY, and anti-rotavirus vaccination (VC increase 2020 vs. 2019: +1.8%, +4.7% and +9.4%, respectively). In the COVID-19 era, the implementation of coherent, transparent, and effective communication campaigns and educational programs on safe childhood vaccinations, together with the increase in the number of healthcare staff employed, is essential to support strategies to reinforce vaccination confidence and behaviour, thus avoiding health threats due to VPD during and beyond COVID-19 times.