Gebrekrstos Negash

In 2021, as countries across the world re-entered COVID-19 lockdown, in Sierra Leone, one District Health Management Team (DHMT) received a phone call from a health officer reporting a suspected case of measles in his facility. Hassan, one of the surveillance officers, was sent to check on the alert. He grabbed one of the COVID-19 response bikes that had been lying dormant as coronavirus cases dwindled across Sierra Leone and headed to Sendugu1, where the case had been identified.

This study shows that the annual coverage for BCG, measles-rubella 1 and 2, and pentavalent 1 and 3 antigens declined as expected during COVID-19 pandemic and how, at the national level, these coverage rates had not been recovered by the end of 2022. Consistent with the national pattern, such decreases were also evident for most districts in Sierra Leone.