ISSN: 2578-5044
Authors: Kameel M*
Introduction: The interventional strategies introduced by the Government of the Republic of Trinidad & Tobago in an effort to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic are likely to act as barriers to vaccination of children, potentially resulting in reduced uptake of vaccines to 2020 birth cohorts. Monitoring and taking steps to maintain vaccine coverage during these critically times are important. Methods: Using a randomly selected site we identified all eligible babies required to start their vaccination course. Using a cohort design these babies were followed during the three month period March-May 2020 during at the peak of the pandemic with lockdown and other public measures in place. All babies registered to start vaccination were monitored and those who actually received as well as those who did not receive their schedule vaccine were recorded. Results: Over the period January-May 2020, there were 318 live births recorded in the area covered by the PCF and these babies were subsequently registered in the CHC. A total of 259 children had at least one dose of IVP and DTwP-Hep-B-Hib at six weeks resulting in a mean vaccine uptake of 83% with a range of 83% - 71%. Although vaccine uptake decreased from 83.1% in January to 74.1% in April, the difference was not significant (ï£2, p = 0.09). Additionally, of those children who were given scheduled appointments for the second dose of the vaccine in two months, 197 of 209 (94.3%) returned and received the second dose. Conclusion: The outbreak of COVID-19 in Trinidad, together with the introduction of public health measures to prevent its transmission in March 2020 had no significant impact on vaccine coverage (VC) which ranged from 83.1% - 71.4% during the period. This was due to health care providers taking impromptu measures to maintain childhood immunization, including but not being limited to, counselling mothers on the importance and safety of the immunization process and ensuring that all public health measures would be maintained. Furthermore, mothers were given exact appointment times, and contacted prior to their appointments to reinforce these messages, and to reassure the mothers about the safety of the process.
Keywords: COVID-19; Vaccination; Vaccine Coverage
