COVID-19 and Vaccination Coverage of the Regular Calendar of Paraguay, effect of the Pandemic

ABSTRACT

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic produced a health crisis affecting countries' vaccination coverage statistics. Objective: To describe the coverage of recommended vaccines during the pre-pandemic (2015-2019) and pandemic (2020-2021) periods in Paraguay. Materials and Methods: This was a descriptive, observational cross-sectional study, comprising children from 0 to 5 years of age, from the Country's 18 Health Regions. The vaccination coverage of the National Expanded Immunization Program, pre-pandemic (2015-2019) and pandemic (2020-201) periods were analyzed. The recommended vaccinations included were BCG, DTP1, DTP3, IPV1 and bOPV3, MMR1, MMR2 and yellow fever vaccine (AA), the calculation of vaccination coverage at the country level was carried out through the analysis of the weekly electronic report of doses of vaccines administered by Health Region. The comparison of vaccination coverage by recommended vaccine was established, by periods and age range. Results: During the pandemic, a decrease in vaccination coverage of the recommended vaccines was observed, for BCG 4% (2020), 15% (2021);DTP1 5% (2020), 13% (2021);DTP3 9% (2020), 22% (2021);IPV1 5% (2020), 16% (2021);bOPV3 7% (2020), 19% (2021);MMR1 9%, MMR2 13% (2020), MMR1 17%, MMR2 16% (2021) and AA 7% (2020), 15% (2021). Conclusion: During the Covid-19 pandemic, vaccination coverage of all recommended vaccines decreased, a similar decrease was found in other countries in the Americas, there is a risk of outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases due to the accumulation of susceptible populations.