Impact of the Covid-19 Pandemic on Routine Immunization at Primary Healthcare Centres in Ogun State, South-West Nigeria

Abstract

Governments around the world responded to the COVID-19 outbreak by enforcing widespread lockdowns, closing borders, and banning large gatherings. In some countries, these extended lockdowns hindered access to essential healthcare services, such as routine immunization (RI). The objective was to assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on RI at primary healthcare centres in Ogun State, Nigeria. A retrospective descriptive cross-sectional survey was employed to review the vaccination records of all children in Ogun State between 2017 and 2021. Data was extracted from the state vaccination registers using a proforma created on ODK (Open Data Kit) and analyzed using IBM® SPSS version 23.0. Line graphs were drawn to examine the trends of the vaccination coverage rates before, during and after the pandemic. Also, the F-Test was used to compare the group means, and the p-value was set at < 0.05 as significant level. The coverage rates for the antigens reviewed (BCG, Measles, and Penta 1 & 3) experienced a decline in all the Health zones (Hz) during the pandemic. Also, in all the Hz except Remo, the uptake for Measles, Penta 1and Penta 3 was significantly reduced in 2020 at the onset of the pandemic (p<0.05) compared to the previous years. The downward trend in the vaccination rate witnessed during the COVID-19 pandemic may be attributed to the major disruptions to the RI services. Therefore, there is a need for restoration of immunization services to pre-pandemic levels and catch-up children who missed immunization to prevent post-pandemic vaccine-preventable disease epidemics.