Journal article
Spatial inequities in COVID-19 vaccination in Philadelphia by race and income
Preventive medicine reports, v 54, 103091
Jun 2025
Featured in Collection : UN Sustainable Development Goals @ Drexel
Abstract
Vaccination is a key intervention to prevent severe COVID-19, but in the early months of vaccination availability in the United States, there were wide spatial inequities in vaccination by neighborood racial-ethnic composition and socioeconomic status. To explore whether and how these inequities persisted, we examined the association between neighborhood-level income and racial-ethnic composition and COVID-19 vaccination coverage in Philadelphia, and described trends in inequities in 2021 and 2022.
Using vaccination data for 46 Philadelphia neighborhoods (zip codes), from the Philadelphia Department of Public Health, we estimated vaccination coverage on April 18th, September 26th, and November 21st of 2021, as well as April 3rd, June 26th, and August 7th of 2022. We estimated and compared average vaccination coverage by neighborhood-level income and racial-ethnic composition. We explored inequities in coverage by estimating absolute and relative differences in vaccination by date.
COVID-19 vaccination coverage varied substantially by neighborhood-level income and racial-ethnic composition. On all dates, rates were higher in high income and non-Hispanic White neighborhoods compared to medium-income, low-income, mixed, and non-Hispanic Black neighborhoods. The absolute and relative differences in vaccination between neighborhoods narrowed over time but persisted through August 2022.
This study provides evidence for the importance of policies that target low-income and non-Hispanic Black neighborhoods during pandemics, including during vaccination rollout, as they have experienced a disproportionate infection, hospitalization, and mortality burden due to COVID-19 and experienced lower vaccination rates.
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Details
- Title
- Spatial inequities in COVID-19 vaccination in Philadelphia by race and income
- Creators
- Angela D'Adamo - Johns Hopkins University School of MedicineAlina Schnake-Mahl - Department of Health Management and Policy, Drexel Dornsife School of Public Health, Philadelphia, PA, USAUsama Bilal - Urban Health Collaborative, Drexel Dornsife School of Public Health, Philadelphia, PA, USAJane Miller - Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
- Publication Details
- Preventive medicine reports, v 54, 103091
- Publisher
- Elsevier
- Number of pages
- 4
- Grant note
- Office of the Director of the National Institutes of Health: DP5OD26429 National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Disease: K01AI168579-03
Usama Bilal was supported by the Office of the Director of the National Institutes of Health under award number DP5OD26429. Alina Schnake-Mahl was supported by the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Disease under award number K01AI168579-03. Angela D'Adamo and Jane Miller have no funding disclosures.
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Urban Health Collaborative; Epidemiology and Biostatistics; Health Management and Policy
- Web of Science ID
- WOS:001487749600001
- Scopus ID
- 2-s2.0-105003971970
- Other Identifier
- 991022050634304721
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- Collaboration types
- Domestic collaboration
- Web of Science research areas
- Public, Environmental & Occupational Health