The legacy of the COVID-19 pandemic for childhood vaccination in the USA

• Type of Material: Article
• Authors: Douglas J Opel, University of Washington; Noel T Brewer, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Alison M Buttenheim, University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing; Timothy Callaghan, Boston University; Richard M Carpiano, University of California, Los Angeles; Chealeas Clinton, Clinton Foundation; Jad A Elharake, Yale Institute for Global Health; Lisa Flowers, Emory University; Alison P Galvani, Yale University; Peter J Hotez, Baylor College of Medicine; Jason L Schwartz, Yale University; Regina M Benjamin, Gulf States Health Policy Center; Arthur Caplan, New York University Langone School of Medicine; Renee DiResta, Stanford University; Rekha Lakshmanan, The Immunization Partnership; Yvonne A Maldonado, Stanford University; Michelle M Mello, Stanford University; Wendy E Parmet, Northeastern University; Daniel A Salmon, Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health; Joshua M Sharfstein, Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health; Saad B Omer, Yale Institute for Global Health
• Language: English
• Date: 2023-01-07
• Publisher: Elsevier Ltd.
• Publication Version: Final Published Version
• Copyright Statement: © 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
• Final Published Version (URL): http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(22)01693-2
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: The Lancet
• Volume: 401
• Issue: 10370
• Start Page: 75
• End Page: 78
• Keywords: Pandemics; COVID-19; Vaccination; Humans; United States
• Research Categories: Health Sciences, Medicine and Surgery

Abstract

Before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, achievements in childhood vaccine coverage in the USA and globally appeared imperiled. Misinformation about vaccines was pervasive.1 Vaccine hesitancy––a motivational state of being conflicted about, or opposed to, vaccination––was a top ten global health threat.2 And vaccine-preventable diseases, such as measles, re-emerged following decades of successful control.3 Since the arrival of COVID-19, disruptions to childhood vaccine delivery have further jeopardised childhood vaccination efforts.4