Effect of COVID-19 pandemic on well child follow-up visits and vaccination: A Single unit experience from Turkey.

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The aim of the study was to examine the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on frequency of well-child follow-up visits and immunization rate in Turkish tertiary reference hospital's Well-Child Care Outpatient Clinic. Children aged one month to 18 years who presented to the Well Child Care Outpatient Clinic of a tertiary referral hospital in Turkey for child health follow-up and immunisation were included in the study. Children with chronic diseases or children who needed to be immunised with a different scheme due to their special conditions were not included. In our cross-sectional study, the cases were categorised into two distinct groups based on application dates; those who applied between September 1, 2018, and March 1, 2020, were assessed during the pre-pandemic period, while those who applied between March 11, 2020, and November 1, 2021, were assessed during the pandemic period. The pandemic and pre-pandemic numbers of children admitted to our clinic, their sociodemographic characteristics, and immunizations were compared. The pre-pandemic number of children admitted for child health follow-up was 9368; the pandemic number was 3830. In the pandemic, 21.8% of children were vaccinated. Although the number of children admitted to our clinic decreased during the pandemic period, vaccination rates increased significantly (p = 0.0036). The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on healthcare. In addition to the effects that emerged during the pandemic period, it is predicted that there will be many reflections in the post-pandemic period, especially affecting the vulnerable population. Although our study was conducted in a single centre, it is of great importance in terms of revealing the efforts made by healthcare workers in the field of child health follow-up and vaccination during the pandemic period and emphasising that primary healthcare services should continue.