Abstract
Using electronic health records, we assessed the early impact of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) on routine childhood vaccination in England by 26 April 2020. Measles-mumps-rubella vaccination counts fell from February 2020, and in the 3 weeks after introduction of physical distancing measures were 19.8% lower (95% confidence interval: −20.7 to −18.9) than the same period in 2019, before improving in mid-April. A gradual decline in hexavalent vaccination counts throughout 2020 was not accentuated by physical distancing.
Highlights
We assessed the early impact of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) on routine childhood vaccination in England by 26 April 2020
Aggregated weekly counts of the first hexavalent vaccinations delivered to infants younger than 6 months and of the first MMR vaccinations delivered to children aged 12 to 18 months were provided from The Phoenix Partnership (TPP) SystmOne for the first 17 weeks of 2019 and 2020
It is vital that routine childhood vaccinations are timely, for diseases such as measles for which a high coverage is required to prevent outbreaks [8,14]
Summary
This analysis was conducted as part of public health usual practice, and was not conducted for research. In the 3 weeks after introduction of full physical distancing measures (weeks 13 to 15), hexavalent vaccination was 6.7% lower (95% CI: −7.1 to −6.2) and MMR vaccination 19.8% lower (95% CI: −20.7 to −18.9) than in 2019. This suggested a general decrease in vaccination throughout weeks 1 to in 2020 compared with the same weeks in 2019, which did not accentuate on introduction of physical distancing, but reversed in week 15, with a percent increase in weeks and of 2020 compared with 2019 (Figure 2). In the 3 weeks following introduction of physical distancing measures (weeks 13–15), the percent change in hexavalent vaccination in 2020 compared with 2019 varied by region, ranging from increases of +17.4% (95% CI: 12.4 to 22.4) in Cheshire and Merseyside to decreases of more than −10% in Greater Manchester, London, the West Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber. Change in vaccination counts in 2020 compared with 2019 had improved in all regions, but only two regions had reached the cumulative vaccination count seen in week 17 of 2019
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