AMMAN —
Once-eradicated diseases may appear again because of the delay or absence of
routine vaccinations during the COVID-19 pandemic and school closures,
according to health experts, while a health official said adequate attention is
being paid to the issue.
اضافة اعلان
“You can give students
a laptop or a tablet during online learning, but you can’t replace a vaccine,”
said Eresso Aga, chief of UNICEF Jordan’s health section.
Typically, Jordan has
a strong vaccination program that offers free inoculations at over 600
locations across the country. The 2017–2018 Jordan Demographic Health Survey
(DHS) found that 86 percent of the population have received basic immunizations,
higher than the WHO global average of 85 percent. According to Assistant
Secretary-General for Primary Health Care at the Ministry of Health Ghazi
Sharkas, there are two types of vaccines for children: the first, before
children start school, is given through health centers; the second is given at
schools to children in first grade and tenth grade.
“These vaccines are
important because if they are delayed or missed we could see the resurfacing of
some diseases that were eradicated,” Sharkas told Jordan News.
Likewise, Aga recalled
that in Europe and the United States, lapses in vaccination have led to the
outbreak of once-eradicated diseases. In 2019, New York City and Washington
declared a state of emergency due to measles outbreaks; measles had been
declared eradicated in 2000 by the World Health Organization.
“It’s very easy to
have those outbreaks” when vaccination rates drop, Aga said.
“These are serious
dangers that can jeopardize this fantastic gain that Jordan has (made) for 20
years. We’ve seen it in many countries.” When the rate of vaccine coverage in a
population drops below that required to achieve herd immunity, he explained,
outbreaks occur.
A socioeconomic
assessment of children and youth during COVID-19 published by UNICEF in 2020
found that the pandemic had significantly disrupted children’s usual
vaccination routines. UNICEF reported that in 17 percent of the households
surveyed (which were drawn from UNICEF’s beneficiaries), children under five
did not receive basic vaccinations (the BCG tuberculosis vaccine, three doses
of DPT-IPV-Hib, and one dose of measles).
Jordanian doctor
Mohammad Al Thunibat, who now lives in Canada, took to Twitter to alert parents
about the serious medical problems that their children will face in the future
if they do not follow up on their children’s vaccinations. Thunibat explained
in his tweet that if vaccines are ignored due to the closure of schools that
typically arrange them for children, “it would be disastrous, and we will be
seeing casualties of diseases that have not been seen in decades.”
“During the pandemic
and school closures, there was a slight delay in administering vaccines to
school children but we managed to catch up when schools reopened, by
coordinating with (the Ministry of Education) and school administrations, who
in turn informed the parents to bring their children in to get their vaccines,”
Sharkas said. He added that while schools have been closed due to the pandemic,
school administrators continue to reach out to parents, who then dispatch teams
from the Ministry of Health to administer vaccines to children.
Aga attributed the
decline in vaccinations during the pandemic to a combination of movement
restrictions, including the initial lockdown, during which no vaccinations were
given for six weeks, and anxiety about visiting clinics even when they are
open. He said that residents of refugee camps, in particular, are scared to
contract
COVID-19 while visiting clinics to receive vaccinations for other
diseases.
However, according to
Aga, vaccinations were on the decline in Jordan even before the pandemic, which
he linked to the spread of misinformation on social media.
UNICEF provides a
variety of support mechanisms for vaccinations in Jordan, including a remote
immunization campaign that targets residents of tented settlements,
collaborations with the agency’s Makani centers, and support with procurement,
such as through the recent donation of 1.3 million syringes for routine
immunization.
Aga said that schools
are a “key entry point” to administer vaccines for life-threatening diseases
such as polio, rotavirus, Diptheria, and tuberculosis. “School is an entry
point; we do awareness work, do catch-up immunization — for example for
Hepatitis B, but schools are closed right now.” He added that a combination of
vaccine hesitancy — i.e. fear to take vaccines — and inequity may drive
decreased vaccination rates.
Aga urged all
Jordanians to maintain regular vaccination schedules, explaining that millions
of dollars have been invested to provide personal protective equipment to
healthcare workers, making healthcare clinics very safe. We advise parents to
wear their masks and respect the safety rules” at vaccination clinics, Aga
said. “The benefits of vaccination are still immense and it saves lives. We
advise them to please follow the vaccination schedule. It is safe to take your
children to clinics.”
Jordan News sought to
obtain comments from the Ministry of Education but they were not available.
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