COVID-19, measles, and yellow fever: The need to reinforce vaccination in the Democratic Republic of Congo

Sudhan Rackimuthu; Reem Hunain; Utkarsha Uday; Muhammad Muzzamil; Majeeb Ur Rehman; Osaretin Christabel Okonji; Careena Ann Lobo; Mohammad Yasir Essar; Ana Carla Dos Santos Costa; Shoaib Ahmad; Fidèle Nyimi Bushabu

doi:10.1016/j.cegh.2021.100956

COVID-19, measles, and yellow fever: The need to reinforce vaccination in the Democratic Republic of Congo

Clin Epidemiol Glob Health. 2022 Jan-Feb:13:100956. doi: 10.1016/j.cegh.2021.100956. Epub 2022 Jan 5.

Affiliations

¹ Father Muller Medical College, Mangalore, Karnataka, India.
² Kasturba Medical College, Manipal, India.
³ West Bengal University of Health Sciences, Kolkata, West Bengal, India.
⁴ Health Services Academy, Islamabad, Pakistan.
⁵ Punjab Medical College, Faisalabad, Punjab, Pakistan.
⁶ School of Pharmacy, University of the Western Cape, South Africa.
⁷ Kabul University of Medical Sciences, Kabul, Afghanistan.
⁸ Federal University of Bahia, Salvador, Bahia, Brazil.
⁹ District Head Quarters Teaching Hospital, Faisalabad, Pakistan.
¹⁰ Service of oral and maxillofacial surgery, Department of Dental Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Kinshasa, Kinshasa, Congo.

Abstract

The immunization programs have been jeopardized all over the world due to the stay-at-home constraints imposed, to mitigate the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. This has directly or indirectly placed the global health care system in peril, resulting in an overlapping public health crisis. With this commentary, we aim to accentuate the need to reinforce vaccination in the Democratic Republic of Congo, in lieu of the intersecting COVID-19, measles, and yellow fever outbreak, besides, providing recommendations so as to help alleviate the situation.

Keywords: COVID-19; Democratic Republic of Congo; Measles; Yellow fever.