Health experts warn vaccine-preventable illnesses could rise in Alberta
CBC
Pandemic-related delays in routine childhood immunization rates are prompting concerns about the possible resurgence of vaccine-preventable illnesses in Alberta.
New York declared a state disaster emergency late last week as it scrambled to contain the polio virus, which has turned up in wastewater.
Alberta's chief medical officer of health, Dr. Deena Hinshaw, recently called on Albertans to ensure their vaccinations are up-to-date, warning diseases can be imported easily and spread quickly through the population, particularly in communities with lower immunization rates.
"The COVID-19 pandemic has interrupted routine childhood immunization schedules worldwide, leaving many at higher risk of vaccine-preventable diseases such as polio and measles," she said in a tweet.
The latest available provincial statistics show the percentage of Alberta children up-to-date (with four doses) of the shots containing the polio vaccine, by the age of two, dropped from 78.82 per cent in 2019 to 74.77 per cent last year.
That particular immunization also protects against other illnesses, including whooping cough, and infants are scheduled for four doses between birth and 18 months.
There was also a decline in measles vaccine coverage in children, with the percentage of seven-year-olds protected with two doses slumping to 75.84 per cent last year from 81.04 per cent in 2019.
"After about a year [into the pandemic], we were sitting with our infant vaccine coverage about five per cent below where it had been previously," said Shannon MacDonald, associate professor in the faculty of nursing and the school of public health at the University of Alberta.
"Now, where it was previously wasn't actually as high as it should be. We like to see those numbers up in the 90 per cent range."
MacDonald and her team have studied how the pandemic impacted immunization coverage among Alberta children.
According to MacDonald, the drop-off in school-based vaccinations — which protect against HPV, Hepatitis B and meningitis — was dramatic due to the initial shutdown of schools in March of 2020, followed by intermittent closures and online schooling the year after.
"The school age vaccines were really terribly impacted.… We've sort of got two years worth of kids that have fallen behind on those. And those coverage numbers fell from the 75 per cent range down to five per cent of kids fully vaccinated."
At Alberta Children's Hospital, infectious disease specialist Dr. Cora Constantinescu is watching the trends with a lot of trepidation.
She agrees access was hampered by school closures and the diversion of staff from public health clinics to deal with COVID-19.
