Effect of COVID-19 Pandemic on Uptake of Routine Immunization in Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo

Abstract

Routine immunization processes in the Democratic Republic of Congo are supported by the government, as a strategy to protect vulnerable children below two years. The government strives to improve immunization processes and maintain them in spite of the context. However, with the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic, it was not easy to know the extent to which immunization processes were disrupted. The objective of this study was to evaluate the pandemic’s effect on vaccination uptake in terms of coverage, sequence, and timing of the vaccines at Mabanga in Goma City, in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The study sought to compare vaccination uptake before and during the COVID-19 period. A cross-sectional survey was conducted in August 2021, among 423 children aged 12-23 months which were from the two-stage cluster sampling. Paired T-test, Chi-square, and logistic regression were used to determine the Mean values, independence, and measures of association, respectively, at a significance value of p <0.05. The full and partial immunization coverages were 97% and 99% respectively, during COVID-19. There was a drop of 69% in the number of vaccinations done in the first three months after the onset of COVID-19. Later it increased to 82% in the ninth month following the COVID-19 pandemic. A similar observation was made for untimely doses, which dropped for the first three months of vaccination to 59%. The out-of-sequence mean doses of the vaccines increased by 72%. The study concludes that COVID-19 disrupted the vaccine uptake, untimely and out-of-sequence vaccination trends. If the out-of-sequence and untimely vaccinations go unchecked, it may increase the morbidity and mortality caused by some preventable childhood illnesses.