School immunization coverage in adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic: A retrospective cohort study.
Vaccine
; 41(7): 1333-1341, 2023 02 10.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-36642632
ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION:
Few studies have assessed the impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on immunization coverage for adolescents, and little is known about how coverage has changed throughout the pandemic. We aimed to (1) assess the change in coverage for school-based vaccines in Alberta, Canada resulting from the pandemic; (2) determine whether coverage differed by geographic health zone and school type; and (3) ascertain whether coverage has returned to pre-pandemic levels.METHODS:
Using a retrospective cohort design, we used administrative health data to compare coverage for human papillomavirus (HPV) and meningococcal conjugate A, C, Y, W-135 (MenC-ACYW) vaccines between pre-pandemic (2017-2018 school year) and pandemic (2019-2020 and 2020-2021 school years) cohorts (N = 289,420). Coverage was also compared by health zone and authority type. The 2019-2020 cohort was followed over one year to assess catch-up.RESULTS:
Compared to 2017-2018, immunization coverage for HPV was significantly lower in the 2019-2020 (absolute difference 60.8%; 95% CI 60.4-61.3%) and 2020-2021 cohorts (absolute difference 59.9%; 95% CI 59.4-60.3%). There was a smaller, significant decline in MenC-ACYW coverage comparing 2017-2018 to 2019-2020 (absolute difference 6.1%; 95% CI 5.6-6.5%) and 2020-2021 (absolute difference 32.2%; 95% CI 31.6-32.7%). Private schools had low coverage overall, while coverage fluctuated by zone. During follow-up of the 2019-2020 cohort, coverage for HPV and MenC-ACYW increased from 5.6% to 50.2%, and 80.7% to 83.0%, respectively.CONCLUSION:
There was a substantial decrease in school-based immunization coverage during the COVID-19 pandemic, and coverage has not returned to pre-pandemic levels, suggesting further catch-up is needed.Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Meningococcal Vaccines
/
Papillomavirus Infections
/
Papillomavirus Vaccines
/
COVID-19
Type of study:
Etiology_studies
/
Observational_studies
Limits:
Adolescent
/
Humans
Country/Region as subject:
America do norte
Language:
En
Journal:
Vaccine
Year:
2023
Document type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Canada