Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Vaccination Coverage in Children

As a result of public health measures to prevent the spread of SARS-CoV-2, well-child care with routine vaccine administration has declined during the COVID-19 pandemic. To characterize this decrease in vaccination coverage (and its subsequent effects), researchers performed a retrospective study in southern California including almost 1 million sociodemographically diverse children (age range, 0–18 years). All routine non-influenza vaccinations, including measles vaccinations, were assessed during the COVID-19 pandemic (January–August 2020) compared with the previous year (January–August 2019).

Among children aged 0–23 months, the number of routine vaccine doses administered by the end of March 2020 (i.e., early in the pandemic) declined by 45%, then recovered almost to 2019 levels by the end of April 2020. However, in children aged ≥2 years, the number of vaccine doses delivered declined by 94% and remained lower than 2019 levels, especially among teens. Measles vaccine administration fell by 60% in children younger than 24 months and by 93% in those aged 2 to 18 years; all remained below the previous year.