ABSTRACT
Background: The healthcare system in Jordan faced substantial burden during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic including disruption of routine childhood vaccination services. Aims: We sought, for the first time, to describe the impact of the 2020 pandemic on vaccination coverage of Jordanian children in Jordan and to identify the key contributing factors. Methods: Nationwide vaccination rates were retrieved from the electronic records at the Ministry of Health (2018-2020) enrolling crude births of 220,057 Jordanian children during 2020. Records of doses administered were compared for each month of 2020 with the baseline of 2018-2019. A cross-sectional survey (March-August 2021) was also conducted enrolling a convenient sample of adults aged ≥18 who were Jordanian caregivers for vaccine-eligible children (0-23 months) between 1 January 2020 and the date of the interview. The survey aimed to address caregivers' adherence to routine vaccination during 2020-2021 and to describe the determinants of the current and future adherence to vaccination where multiple logistic regression model was utilized. Results: The electronic records revealed a significant decline in vaccination coverage during 2020. The greatest decline was observed during the lockdown period from 21 March 2020 to 21 April 2020 (32.4%-46.8%) followed by the decline observed by the entry of the first wave during September-October 2020 (18.4%-22.8%). A drop of 14-16% was observed for the vaccines recommended under the age of 12 months and of 6-7% for those recommended in 1-2-year-old children. The yearly coverage rates for measles-1 (at 9 months), 2 (at 12 months as part of measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine), and 3 (at 18 months as part of MMR) were 76%, 90%, and 87%, respectively, and for hexavalent-1, 2, and 3 were 78%, 78%, and 77%, respectively. The results of the survey revealed that the main reason for vaccination delay for at least 1 month from the recommended administration time was the lockdown, followed by child illness and smart lockdowns (regional lockdown/health center closure). Vaccination delay was less likely to be observed in children aged ≥12 months (P value < 0.001; OR: 0.18; CI: 0.11-0.29) or children with chronic diseases (P value < 0.05; OR: 0.5; CI: 0.33-0.88). Conclusion: The current study demonstrates a decline in vaccination coverage of Jordanian children during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. It is important to formulate future strategies to promote catch-up vaccination and to avoid future backsliding of vaccination rates during further waves of the COVID-19 pandemic or other pandemics. These include improving health services, allaying caregivers' concerns about contracting COVID-19, and arranging vaccination campaigns outside health centers.