Negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on routine childhood immunization: experience from Pakistan.

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted routine childhood immunization coverage for many vaccine-preventable diseases at the global, regional and national levels. In Pakistan, more than 40 million children were unable to receive measles vaccination and around 50 million children missed polio vaccination in 2020. Moreover, more than 36 million children did not receive vitamin A supplementation in 2020. Implementing catch-up vaccination services to prevent outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases, particularly polio and measles, in malnourished children is urgently required to prevent a global resurgence of these deadly diseases. Muhammad Suleman Rana and colleagues from the National Institute of Health in Pakistan discuss the urgent need to implement catch-up vaccination programmes for measles and polio to prevent resurgence of these deadly diseases.