Three years after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, coverage for selected routine childhood vaccines remained below prepandemic levels, according to a study published online March 26 in Pediatrics.

Malini B. DeSilva, M.D., from HealthPartners Institute in Bloomington, Minnesota, and colleagues examined rotavirus; diphtheria, tetanus, and acellular pertussis; and pneumococcal conjugate vaccine coverage among infants born between Jan. 1, 2018, and May 31, 2023, and assessed factors associated with vaccine uptake. Data were included for 395,143 infants.

The researchers found that at 5 months of age, coverage for two doses of all three vaccines was 87.8% and 80.8% in February 2020 and October 2023, respectively. At 12 months, vaccine series completion was highest in January 2020 and lower in October 2023 (92.3% and 89.6%, respectively). Having a caregiver whose primary language was not English or Spanish, non-Hispanic Black race, and Medicaid were factors associated with lower vaccine uptake.

“Three years after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, coverage for selected routine childhood immunizations remained below prepandemic levels,” the authors write. “Although our findings highlight population groups for whom focused interventions are needed to improve vaccine coverage, further understanding of how these factors may be related to other sociodemographic and cultural factors, availability of care, structural barriers to accessing care, and vaccine confidence, is needed.”

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