COVID-19 #16
Description
When did the event happen?
2020
Describe what happened.
the spread of the COVID-19 virus led to a slow down of polio vaccination efforts as health systems both started drastic policy reorientations towards addressing the COVID-19 health issue as they were swamped with COVID patients.
How did this affect the accessibility of the medicine?
This reorientation and swamping of the healthcare systems severely disrupted different vaccination chains, becoming so severe that in November 2020, the WHO and UNICEF issued statements urging countries to ensure that measle and polio epidemics did not break out.
Reference.
Global Polio Eradication Initiative. (2020) 2020 Annual Report. Retrieved from https://polioeradication.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/GPEI-2020-Annual-Report-ISBN-9789240030763.pdf