Promising improvement in vaccination rates, Health Ministry says

Vaccine coverage among primary school aged children remains high, but still not at optimum levels, the Ministry of Health says.

The ministry says the last statistics recorded at the end of 2023, show that there has been a promising improvement in vaccination rates over the years, but the 95 per cent coverage point has still not been achieved.

The statement said, “Barbados in 2023, coverage of primary vaccines was 85 per cent for Diphtheria tetanus toxoid and pertussis [DTP3] and Polio and MMR1 and 2 was 90 per cent and 76 per cent respectively. This was an improvement from the coverage achieved in 2021 and 2022 for MMR, however, the DTP3 and Polio3 coverage was similar to that seen in 2020 and slightly less than that for 2022. Overall, the coverage of primary vaccines is still below the targeted 95 percent coverage.”

Meanwhile, Veronica Kirton, acting senior health sister at the Edgar Cochrane Polyclinic, told Barbados TODAY on Saturday during a visit to the facility, that there has been a steady flow of parents bringing their children in for their shots.

“Right now we are seeing a steady flow of persons coming in for the vaccines, we’ve not really had any vaccine hesitancy per say. We’ve had some children who would have defaulted, and because we are open today, Saturday, which we normally wouldn’t do, we’ve had a few parents coming in bringing their children for the vaccines,” she said.  

Kirton pointed out that Mondays are typically designated as childhood days at the polyclinic, which typically covered vaccination appointments. She added that there has been a consistent flow of children, aged two months to five years, as well as those seeking to update their vaccinations after sitting the Common Entrance Examinations.

“What we do is that we organise a programme where we do a particular school on a set day and then after that, we have a day where persons who probably would have missed the vaccines would come on that day to get the vaccines.

“[On average] we tend to get probably 20 children per week at this location, coming in.” (SB)