Cargando…

Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on HPV Vaccinations in Switzerland and Greece: Road to Recovery

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused significant disruptions to healthcare, including reduced administration of routinely recommended HPV vaccines in a number of European countries. Because the extent and trends of accumulated vaccine dose deficits may vary by country, decision-makers need country-speci...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Gountas, Ilias, Favre-Bulle, Andrea, Saxena, Kunal, Wilcock, Jessica, Collings, Hannah, Salomonsson, Stina, Skroumpelos, Anastasios, Sabale, Ugne
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9964352/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36851136
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/vaccines11020258
Descripción
Sumario:The COVID-19 pandemic has caused significant disruptions to healthcare, including reduced administration of routinely recommended HPV vaccines in a number of European countries. Because the extent and trends of accumulated vaccine dose deficits may vary by country, decision-makers need country-specific information regarding vaccine deficits to plan effective catch-up initiatives. To address this knowledge gap in Switzerland and Greece, this study used a previously published COVID-19 recovery calculator and historical vaccine sales data to quantify the cumulative number of missed doses and the catch-up rate required to clear the deficit in Switzerland and Greece. The resultant cumulative deficit in HPV doses for Switzerland and Greece were 24.4% and 21.7%, respectively, of the total number of doses disseminated in 2019. To clear the dose deficit by December 2025, monthly vaccination rates must be increased by 6.3% and 6.0% compared to 2019 rates in Switzerland and Greece, respectively. This study demonstrates that administration rates of routine HPV vaccines decreased significantly among Swiss and Greek adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic and that a sustained increase in vaccination rates is necessary to recover the HPV dose deficits identified and to prevent long-term public health consequences.