How has the COVID-19 pandemic affected measles vaccination rates?
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/12/201217090425.htm
In a recent study published in Pediatrics, researchers at Nationwide Children's Hospital evaluated changes in measles vaccination rates from before the pandemic to this summer, when return for clinical care was encouraged. Finding a steep and lasting decline, the researchers are making efforts to improve timely vaccination and provide safe catch-up opportunities to children in their pediatric primary care network.
"We have seen a resurgence of measles outbreaks in the U.S. and here in Ohio in recent years because fewer people have chosen to immunize," said the study's lead author Sara Bode, MD, a primary care pediatrician and medical director of Nationwide Children's Care Connection School-Based Health and Mobile Clinics. "We were concerned that with the pandemic, vaccination rates could fall further and there could be a real risk of a measles outbreak that could affect everyone in the community."