Paula Martins J, Almeida Alatzatianos G, Mendes Camargo T, Augusto Lima Marson F. Overview of childhood vaccination coverage in Brazil and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic: Is our children's health at risk? A review of pre-COVID-19 periods and during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Vaccine X 2024;
17:100430. [PMID:
38299202 PMCID:
PMC10825611 DOI:
10.1016/j.jvacx.2024.100430]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/09/2023] [Revised: 12/23/2023] [Accepted: 01/03/2024] [Indexed: 02/02/2024] Open
Abstract
Introduction
The coronavirus disease (COVID)-19 has had a great impact on several aspects related to the population's health, including the vaccination adherence rate. This study describes how childhood vaccination coverage (CVC) in Brazil was affected by the pandemic in the period from 2020 to 2022 and explores the relationship between this data and the Human Development Index (HDI), and the number of votes received in the government with a right-wing political ideology.
Methods
An ecological analysis of CVC was carried out including 12 vaccines. The HDI was evaluated considering the HDI-General, HDI-Income, HDI-Longevity, and HDI-Education. The percentage of valid votes received by the former president (right-wing political ideology) was also obtained. Spearman correlation tests were applied to compare markers.
Results
During the period analyzed, it was observed a linear growth trend in CVC between 2015 and 2018 regarding all vaccines. However, from 2018 onwards, after the presidential elections in Brazil, the CVC reduced significantly, showing an even more pronounced decrease with the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. This reduction in CVC observed for some vaccines was related to the higher percentage of votes for the government with a right-wing political ideology, especially in relation to the BCG (bacillus Calmette and Guerin) and pentavalent (protecting against diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, hepatitis B, and Haemophilus influenzae type b bacteria) vaccines. In addition, when analyzing the HDI, it was observed that the lowest values of this indicator were associated with a more expressive reduction in CVC, mainly related to yellow fever, pentavalent, 10-valent pneumococcal conjugate, Human rotavirus, and triple viral (protecting against measles, mumps, and rubella - MMR) vaccines.
Conclusion
Although Brazil has a successful and exemplary record in combating several diseases, mainly due to the high rate of CVC, the continuous reduction in this coverage must be thoroughly evaluated by health managers.
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