Abstract
COVID-19 vaccination is being rapidly rolled out in the US and many other countries, and it is crucial to provide fast and accurate assessment of vaccination coverage and vaccination gaps to make strategic adjustments promoting vaccine coverage. We reported the effective use of real-time geospatial analysis to identify barriers and gaps in COVID-19 vaccination in a minority population living in South Texas on the US-Mexico Border, to inform vaccination campaign strategies. We developed 4 rank-based approaches to evaluate the vaccination gap at the census tract level, which considered both population vulnerability and vaccination priority and eligibility. We identified areas with the highest vaccination gaps using different assessment approaches. Real-time geospatial analysis to identify vaccination gaps is critical to rapidly increase vaccination uptake, and to reach herd immunity in the vulnerable and the vaccine hesitant groups. Our results assisted the City of Brownsville Public Health Department in adjusting real-time targeting of vaccination, gathering coverage assessment, and deploying services to areas identified as high vaccination gap. The analyses and responses can be adopted in other locations.
Highlights
COVID-19 vaccination is being rapidly rolled out in the US and many other countries, and it is crucial to provide fast and accurate assessment of vaccination coverage and vaccination gaps to make strategic adjustments promoting vaccine coverage
We reported the effective use of real-time geospatial analysis to identify barriers and gaps in COVID-19 vaccination in a minority population to inform rollout strategies and vaccination campaigns
The minority population in the COB has been disproportionally affected by COVID-19, with cumulative COVID-19 case rate of 9.13%, case fatality rate (COVID-19 death among COVID-19 cases) of 3.42% and mortality rate (COVID-19 death among total population) of 0.31%, between March 19th, 2020 and March 13th, 2021, reported from Cameron County at the time of this analysis 6
Summary
Year 2018 (c), percentage of population 65 years old and above (d) and CCVI composite score (e) These maps present somewhat different spatial patterns and identify different sets of census tracts as the priority areas. The analysis has allowed COB Public Health Department to strategically target areas with high vaccination gaps through their “boots on the ground” campaign, while considering the population characteristics in these areas (e.g., age or primary language spoken at home). COB Public Health Department has developed and implemented a vaccination messaging approach utilizing door-to-door outreach in both English and Spanish languages in identified high gap areas with older populations, with additional messaging via the city’s social media platforms and the weekly COVID update targeting high gap areas with higher young p opulations[14]
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