TÜRKİYE’DE COVID-19 AŞILAMA HIZI İLE SAĞLIĞIN SOSYAL BELİRLEYİCİLERİ ARASINDAKİ İLİŞKİ

Abstract

The aim of the research was to evaluate the correlation between the COVID-19 vaccination rate and education, population, health, and income indicators at the provincial level. The study was a descriptive type of research. The first dose COVID-19 vaccination rate was taken from the Turkish Ministry of Health COVID-19 Table. Population, economic, education, and health indicators of the provinces were obtained from the 2019 Health Statistics Yearbook of the Turkish Ministry of Health and the official website of the Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK). SPSS v.18 program was used for data analysis. Variables associated with the COVID-19 vaccination rate were evaluated by Spearman correlation analysis. p<0.05 was considered significant. There was a very strong positive correlation between the vaccination rate and the 65-year-old population ratio (rs=0.710, p<0.001), and a very strong negative correlation between the mean household size (rs=-0.848, p<0.001). There was a strong positive correlation (rs=0.522, p<0.001) between the rate of university graduates and the vaccination rate, and a strong negative correlation (rs=-0.651, p<0.001) between the rate of illiteracy and the vaccination rate. A strong or very strong relationship was found between vaccination rate and all economic indicators except average earnings and unemployment rate. There was a strong positive correlation between the number of visits to the physician per capita, one of the health indicators, and the vaccination rate (rs=0.639, p<0.001). There are inequalities between provinces in terms of the COVID-19 vaccination rate. Inequalities in vaccination rates are associated with social determinants of health.