MANGALURU: The
coronavirus outbreak has had an impact on the
routine vaccination for babies and children. Though many hospitals have taken extensive measures to ensure safety for babies and mothers during vaccination against Covid-19 as per WHO and government guidelines, parents of young children (6 weeks to below 2 years) were worried about taking them away from home, but at the same time, timely vaccination is indispensable.
Dr Narayana Holla, professor,
Community Medicine,
KVG Medical College, Sullia, said, “India with 65% Fully Immunized Child (FIC) as per Rapid Survey of Children (RSOC), launched Mission Indradhanush in December 2014. We have still not been able to attain 90% FIC. Timely vaccination of children can potentially minimize the vulnerable children population to the ongoing pandemic. It can also prevent outbreaks of Vaccine-Preventable Diseases. Another outbreak at this juncture of the pandemic will over fatigue the already overburdened healthcare service providers. Suspension of the immunization programme by a month will result in an eight per cent reduction in FIC,” he said.
A dedicated vaccination centre has been established in KVG Medical College, Hospital.
Meanwhile, the operations team at KMC Hospital, Mangaluru have confirmed that parents were concerned about the safety of their child and they wanted to try postponing the vaccination for their child
Dr Farooq Syed, associate consultant paediatrics and consultant neonatologist, KMC Hospital, said digital apps are utilised by the doctors to get a screenshot of the previous vaccine taken by the child and arrange for the required vaccine prior to the child’s visit. This measure avoids the need for the parent to take the required vaccine from the pharmacy and fast tracks the process for the doctor to give the vaccination.
With the healthcare interventions undertaken to address the current need, 98% of parents who visited the hospital prior to Covid, continued the vaccination routine for their child despite the pandemic. However, there was a minor delay in the visits as per the
vaccination schedule in the past few months. Currently, we have observed a slow rise in timely visits among parents as per the vaccination schedule. Dr Farooq asserted that they were no Covid cases of parents and children who visited the hospital for vaccination.