Impact of COVID-19-related disruptions to measles, meningococcal A, and yellow fever vaccination in 10 countries

• Published in: eLife Vol. 10
• Main Authors: Gaythorpe, Katy Am, Abbas, Kaja, Huber, John, Karachaliou, Andromachi, Thakkar, Niket, Woodruff, Kim, Li, Xiang, Echeverria-Londono, Susy, Ferrari, Matthew, Jackson, Michael L, McCarthy, Kevin, Perkins, T Alex, Trotter, Caroline, Jit, Mark
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England eLife Science Publications, Ltd 24-06-2021; eLife Sciences Publications Ltd; eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Africa; Africa - epidemiology; Age; Bangladesh - epidemiology; Burkina Faso; Calibration; Canada; Chad; Child; Child, Preschool; Children; Comparative analysis; Coronaviruses; COVID-19; COVID-19 - epidemiology; COVID-19 vaccines; Disease Outbreaks; Disease transmission; Epidemics; Epidemiology; Epidemiology and Global Health; Ethiopia; Fever; Health aspects; Health services; Humans; Immunization; Immunization Programs - methods; Immunization Programs - statistics & numerical data; Infant; Infection; Infections; Kenya; mathematical modelling; Measles; Measles - epidemiology; Measles - prevention & control; Measles Vaccine - therapeutic use; Medical research; Medicine; Medicine, Experimental; meningococcal disease; Meningococcal Infections - epidemiology; Meningococcal Infections - prevention & control; Meningococcal Vaccines - therapeutic use; Nigeria; Pandemics; Parameter estimation; Peer review; Personal protective equipment; Risk Assessment; SARS-CoV-2; Serology; Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; South Sudan; Vaccination; Vaccination - statistics & numerical data; Vaccines; Yellow fever; Yellow Fever - epidemiology; Yellow Fever - prevention & control; Yellow Fever Vaccine - therapeutic use; Young Adult; Bangladesh; Africa; Canada; Burkina Faso; South Sudan; Chad; Kenya; Nigeria; Ethiopia; Sudan; COVID-19; global health; epidemiology; meningococcal disease; mathematical modelling; yellow fever; medicine; human; measles; vaccination
• ISSN: 2050-084X; 2050-084X
• DOI: 10.7554/eLife.67023

Childhood immunisation services have been disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. WHO recommends considering outbreak risk using epidemiological criteria when deciding whether to conduct preventive vaccination campaigns during the pandemic.
We used two to three models per infection to estimate the health impact of 50% reduced routine vaccination coverage in 2020 and delay of campaign vaccination from 2020 to 2021 for measles vaccination in Bangladesh, Chad, Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria, and South Sudan, for meningococcal A vaccination in Burkina Faso, Chad, Niger, and Nigeria, and for yellow fever vaccination in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, and Nigeria. Our counterfactual comparative scenario was sustaining immunisation services at coverage projections made prior to COVID-19 (i.e. without any disruption).
Reduced routine vaccination coverage in 2020 without catch-up vaccination may lead to an increase in measles and yellow fever disease burden in the modelled countries. Delaying planned campaigns in Ethiopia and Nigeria by a year may significantly increase the risk of measles outbreaks (both countries did complete their supplementary immunisation activities (SIAs) planned for 2020). For yellow fever vaccination, delay in campaigns leads to a potential disease burden rise of >1 death per 100,000 people per year until the campaigns are implemented. For meningococcal A vaccination, short-term disruptions in 2020 are unlikely to have a significant impact due to the persistence of direct and indirect benefits from past introductory campaigns of the 1- to 29-year-old population, bolstered by inclusion of the vaccine into the routine immunisation schedule accompanied by further catch-up campaigns.
The impact of COVID-19-related disruption to vaccination programs varies between infections and countries. Planning and implementation of campaigns should consider country and infection-specific epidemiological factors and local immunity gaps worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic when prioritising vaccines and strategies for catch-up vaccination.
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance.