Impact of Covid-19 on routine immunization among children under 5 years in the Mayo-Tsanaga and Logone & Chari Departments, Far North-Cameroon

ABSTRACT

The Covid-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on routine childhood immunization. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), many countries have reported a decrease in vaccination coverage during the pandemic due to various factors such as movement restrictions, fear of contracting Covid-19 during medical visits, closure of healthcare facilities, and the reassignment of healthcare workers to Covid-19 response efforts. The Far North region of Cameroon consistently records cases of vaccine-preventable diseases, and as a result of this pandemic, there is a risk of an increase in these diseases. The objective of this research is to assess the impact of Covid-19 on routine immunization among children under 5 years old in the Mayo Tsanaga (MT) and Logone et Chari (LC) departments. The implementation of barrier measures could pose a significant risk of immunization abandonment among children under 5 years old. A cross-sectional analytical study was conducted in the MT and LC departments. This study was both retrospective and prospective. Data were collected through a questionnaire and a documentary review of existing data before the pandemic. We collected our data using the Kobo Collect software, and the analysis was performed using the R software. The proportion of fully vaccinated children is 53% with a 95% confidence interval [46.58%-60.29%]. It was observed that 4.65% with a 95% confidence interval [2.25%-8.38%] of children were under-vaccinated for Penta 3. The specific abandonment rate is 6.04% with a 95% confidence interval [3.25%-10.11%]. Covid-19 has had an impact on routine immunization in both departments of the study, leading to the failure to achieve the vaccination coverage objective.

Keywords: Covid-19, impact, routine immunization, children under 5 years, Far North, Cameroon.