Guidelines on Immunizations during COVID-19 Pandemic
Vaccinations are an important part of healthcare as they ensure protection of children and their future health.The state and local public systems implement various programs and camps every year to ensure that vaccination is carried out in every part of India. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the immunization services are abruptly stopped. Stay-at-home orders and lockdown has hampered accessibility to routine vaccination services by the government and private hospitals. Halt of Immunizations during COVID-19 pandemic is a neglected issue as parents are unaware of the consequences it may have on their children.
It is important to get children vaccinated as they are easily vulnerable to influenza, hepatitis etc. Unprotected immunity of the kids will only act as a barrier as children and infants are more prone to develop respiratory illnesses and other diseases, adding burden on the already strained healthcare. The problem now is that there is a surplus of children vulnerable to illness, and when the country opens up they will struggle to make up for more appointments in an already exhausted health care system. On the main sequence of immunizations you don't want to get behind. It is hard to catch up once the kids fall off.
Healthcare organisations can reorganize their protocols and strategies to vaccinate as many children as they can. For example, instead of waiting for an individual physician’s order to vaccinate a child, standing orders can be carried out by nurses and other qualified healthcare professionals to increase vaccination rates and reduce missed opportunities. Standing orders are straightforward to use so they can prove to be an effective means for increasing immunizations during COVID-19 pandemic.
