ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a global disruption of several services, including routine immunizations. This effect has been described in several countries, but there are few detailed studies in Latin America and no reports in Ecuador. Therefore, this work aims to quantify the reduction in routine immunizations for infants during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic in Ecuador. 2018, 2019, and 2020 data were obtained from the Ministry of Health, Ecuador. The number of doses and the extent of immunization coverage was descriptively compared for four vaccines: rotavirus (ROTA), poliovirus (PV), pneumococcal (PCV), and pentavalent (PENTA) vaccines. There was no significant difference in doses applied during the 2018 and 2019 years. However, a significant (p < 0.05) drop of 137,000 delivered doses was observed in 2020 compared to the pre-pandemic years. Reductions in the percentage of coverage were more pronounced for the PENTA vaccine (17.7%), followed by PV (16.4%), ROTA (12%), and PCV vaccines (10.7%). Spatial analysis shows a severe impact on vaccination coverage on provinces from the Coast and Highland regions of the country. The pandemic has significantly impacted the immunization programs for infants across Ecuador. This retrospective analysis shows an urgent need to protect vulnerable zones and populations during public health emergencies.
ABSTRACT
The Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) is a well-known vaccine with almost a century of use, with the apparent capability to improve cytokine production and epigenetics changes that could develop a better response to pathogens. It has been postulated that BCG protection against SARS-CoV-2 has a potential role in the pandemic, through the presence of homologous amino acid sequences. To identify a possible link between BCG vaccination coverage and COVID-19 cases, we used official epidemic data and Ecuadorian Ministry of Health and Pan American Health Organization vaccination information. BCG information before 1979 was available only at a national level. Therefore, projections based on the last 20 years were performed, to compare by specific geographic units. We used a Mann-Kendall test to identify BCG coverage variations, and mapping was conducted with a free geographic information system (QGIS). Nine provinces where BCG vaccine coverage was lower than 74.25% show a significant statistical association (χ2 Pearson's = 4.800, df = 1, p = 0.028), with a higher prevalence of cases for people aged 50 to 64 years than in younger people aged 20 to 49 years. Despite the availability of BCG vaccination data and the mathematical models needed to compare these data with COVID-19 cases, our results show that, in geographic areas where BCG coverage was low, 50% presented a high prevalence of COVID-19 cases that were young; thus, low-coverage years were more affected.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Pneumococcal conjugate vaccines (PCV) reduce the burden of invasive pneumococcal disease and pneumonia hospitalizations. However, there is limited evidence of the effect of PCVs on pneumonia mortality in children. It is anticipated that indirect effects resulting from PCV use among children might further reduce the remaining burden of adult pneumococcal disease caused by pneumococcal serotypes contained in PCV. Whether this will result in reduced pneumonia mortality in children and adults is still not known. METHODS: We investigated the impact of PCV on pneumonia hospitalization and mortality in in Ecuador, where PCV was introduced in 2010, considering national data from secondary data sources from 2005 to 2015. Time series analysis using regression models were used to evaluate the decline in the number of all-cause pneumonia hospitalizations and deaths in the period post-PCV introduction. The target populations were children under 5 years and adults aged 50 years and over. Outcomes of interest were hospitalizations and mortality in which the main cause of hospital admission and death, respectively, were coded as ICD10 codes J12-18 (pneumonia). Three different models were fitted. RESULTS: We demonstrate a sizeable impact of PCV in pneumonia hospitalization in children < 1 year (27% reduction, 95%CI 12-42%), and < 5 years of age (33% reduction, 95%CI 11-43%). The estimated impact of PCV in pneumonia mortality was a reduction of 14% in < 1 year (95%CI 0-33%), 10% in < 5 years (95%CI 0-25%), and 22% (95%CI 7-34%) in adults aged 50-64 years. Little evidence of a change was detected in elderly ≥ 65 years. CONCLUSION: This study is the first to report on the impact of PCV in pneumonia morbidity and mortality in children and older adults, being relevant to policy makers and global donors. Findings were consistent when using different models. Additional studies on the indirect effect of PCV in older adults are needed.
