Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on pediatric and adolescent vaccinations and well child visits in the United States: A database analysis.
Vaccine
; 40(5): 706-713, 2022 01 31.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1586265
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted healthcare, including immunization practice and well child visit attendance. Maintaining vaccination coverage is important to prevent disease outbreaks and morbidity. We assessed the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on pediatric and adolescent vaccination administration and well child visit attendance in the United States.METHODS:
This cross-sectional study used IBM MarketScan Commercial Database (IMC) with Early View (healthcare claims database) and TriNetX Dataworks Global Network (electronic medical records database) from January 2018-March 2021. Individuals ≤ 18 years of age who were enrolled during the analysis month of interest (IMC with Early View) or had ≥ 1 health encounter at a participating institution (TriNetX Dataworks) were included. We calculated the monthly percent difference between well child visit attendance and vaccine administration rates for 10 recommended pediatric/adolescent vaccines in 2020 and 2021 compared with 2018-2019. Data were stratified by the age groups 0-2 years, 4-6 years, and 9-16 years.RESULTS:
In IMC with Early View, the average monthly enrollment for children 0-18 years of age was 5.2 million. In TriNetX Dataworks, 12.2 million eligible individuals were included. Well child visits and vaccinations reached the lowest point in April 2020 compared with 2018-2019. Well child visit attendance and vaccine administration rates were inversely related to age, with initial reductions highest for adolescents and lowest for ages 0-2 years. Rates rebounded in June and September 2020 and stabilized to pre-pandemic levels in Fall 2020. Rates dropped below baseline in early 2021 for groups 0-2 years and 4-6 years.CONCLUSIONS:
We found substantial disruptions in well child visit attendance and vaccination administration for children and adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and early 2021. Continued efforts are needed to monitor recovery and catch up to avoid outbreaks and morbidity associated with vaccine-preventable diseases.Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Pandemics
/
COVID-19
Type of study:
Experimental Studies
/
Observational study
/
Randomized controlled trials
Topics:
Vaccines
Limits:
Adolescent
/
Child
/
Child, preschool
/
Humans
/
Infant
/
Infant, Newborn
Country/Region as subject:
North America
Language:
English
Journal:
Vaccine
Year:
2022
Document Type:
Article
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