Pediatricians pivot to vaccines on the go as immunization rates drop during the pandemic
At the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, Eileen Costello, the chief of ambulatory pediatrics at Boston Medical Center, had been forced to reduce patient visits by 90%. Even so, she tried to keep all appointments with kids to get their routine vaccinations for diseases such as measles, mumps, and whooping cough.
“We moved heaven and earth to book the kids in person who were due for a vaccine,” said Costello, who is also a clinical professor at Boston University School of Medicine. “But it became evident that parents weren’t going to come. They were too afraid.”
