| ORIGINAL ARTICLE |
|
| Year : 2022 | Volume
: 24
| Issue : 3 | Page : 25-29 |
|
|
Facilitators and Barriers to Infant Immunization during COVID-19 Pandemic
Shabeena Tawar1, Arun Kumar Yadav2, Swati Garg3, Vijay Bhaskar2, Santosh Kumar Swain4
1 Department of Medicine, INHS Asvini, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
2 Department of Community Medicine, Armed Forces Medical College, Pune, Maharashtra, India
3 Station Health Organisation, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
4 Health Organisation, INS Kadamba, Karnataka, India
Correspondence Address:
( Dr). Shabeena Tawar
Station Health Organisation, Mumbai - 400 005, Maharashtra
India
 Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None  | Check |
DOI: 10.4103/jmms.jmms_126_21
|
|
|
Introduction: The world is enveloped with the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) Pandemic with modern medicine and public health facing their most significant challenges ever posed. As the number of COVID-19 cases increased worldwide, an important issue of concern was the continuation of routine immunization services for children. This study has been conceptualized to assess the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on infant Immunization. Materials and Methods: This study was a descriptive study conducted in an urban community amongst healthy children <1-year-old from January 2018 to September 2021. Immunization records of infants were obtained from data generated during each immunization session and strength, weakness, opportunity, and threat analysis was done using a questionnaire. Results: During the study, a total of 3518 vaccinations were done, a total of 3010 vaccinations (85.5%) were done on time, and the total delayed vaccinations were 508 (14.5%). The difference among the years was statistically significant, with the highest delay in the year 2020 (P < 0.001). However, in the year 2021, the number of vaccinations carried out from April to September was 568, with delayed vaccination of only 10.9%. Conclusion: The Armed Forces childhood immunization program could be sustained during the COVID-19 pandemic due to a multitude of contributing factors such as adherence to national guidelines that prioritized vaccination, infrastructure, and availability of trained workforce and most importantly commitment to strict COVID appropriate behavior.
|
|
|
|
| [FULL TEXT] [PDF]* |
|
 |
|
