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Concerns have been raised about falling childhood vaccine administration and vaccination coverage rates (1,2) during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. In New York City (NYC), decreasing vaccination coverage has been of particular concern in light of recent outbreaks of vaccinepreventable diseases, including a large measles outbreak during 2018-2019 (3). The effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on routine childhood vaccination was monitored by the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) using the Citywide Immunization Registry (CIR),* a populationbased immunization information system with high data quality and provider participation (4,5). CIR includes 2.7 million patient records for NYC persons aged 0-18 years and receives reports from approximately 1,600 immunization facilities. The weekly number of routine childhood vaccine doses administered to persons aged <24 months and 2-18 years in 2020 was compared with the number administered during the same period in 2019; influenza vaccine and vaccines administered in pharmacies and hospital nurseries were excluded from this report. Likewise, the weekly number of unique facilities that reported administering at least one childhood vaccine in 2020 to 2019 was also compared.
Langdon-Embry et al. (Thu,) studied this question.