COVID-19 pandemic and attitudes towards influenza and pneumococcal vaccines.

To the Editor,

Dear Editor, we would like to share ideas on the publication “Attitudes Towards Influenza and Pneumococcal Vaccines in Parents of Asthmatic Children During the COVID‐19 Pandemic.” Özer et al. concluded that “there was an increase in the rate and willingness of parents of asthmatic children to have their children vaccinated against influenza during the COVID‐19 pandemic.” In different circumstances, parents' attitudes toward vaccinations may differ, as well as their attitudes toward individual vaccines. Furthermore, attitudes may alter during different periods of COVID‐19. Parents may not want their children to undergo medical treatment in a health care facility if there is a severe high incidence of disease. A recent report from Singapore that addressed a reduction of normal vaccination rate in well baby clinic service during COVID‐19 outbreak is an example. The similar observations are reported from the United States and Brazil. , , During the stay‐at‐home time, the number of vaccination doses delivered decreased. Some medical care units also reported they had stopped vaccinating during pandemic. Ackerson et al. noted that additional techniques, including as immunization tracking, reminders, and recall for needed immunizations, will be necessary to boost vaccine uptake and coverage and lower the risk of vaccine‐preventable disease outbreaks. Since the pandemic is ongoing, the situation may continue to evolve, it is worth underlining the relevance of vaccination as a disease‐prevention and‐modification approach, as is demonstrated by the current pandemic.

CONFLICTS OF INTEREST

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

AUTHOR CONTRIBUTIONS

Pathum Sookaromdee: conceptualization (equal); validation (equal); visualization (equal); writing—original draft (equal); writing—review & editing (equal). Viroj Wiwanitkit: conceptualization (equal); supervision (equal); validation (equal); visualization (equal).