The COVID pandemic has disrupted many areas of routine healthcare including, importantly, childhood vaccination. The pandemic saw levels of essential childhood immunisations decline in more than 100 countries around the world, leading to outbreaks of infectious diseases such as yellow fever, cholera, diphtheria and polio.
There are many reasons for this, including issues with supply, restricted access to services, and in some areas, factors unrelated to the pandemic such as conflict. But one contributor that’s important to recognise and address is vaccine hesitancy. In 2019, the World Health Organization (WHO) identified vaccine hesitancy as one of its top ten threats to global health. It appears this threat has only increased since the COVID pandemic.
