During the SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) pandemic, we heard about socioeconomic, racial, and ethnic disparities in infection and vaccination rates. There were many reasons for these disparities, including where one lives.
In an article being early released in Pediatrics this month, Dr. Rohan Khazanchi from Harvard University and colleagues look at spatial accessibility (i.e., how far one has to travel to receive health care) and pediatric COVID-19 vaccination (10.1542/peds.2024-065938).
The authors measured travel times from the population center of each US census tract to the nearest vaccination site for more than 15 million pediatric vaccine doses. They found that:
- 14% of families lived >30 minutes from a site vaccinating 6 month-4 year-olds; 2% lived >30 minutes from a site vaccinating 6-11-year-olds.
- Those who were uninsured, identified as White or Native American, and lived in rural areas had longer travel times to the nearest vaccination site than those who were insured, identified as Black, Hispanic, or Asian, and lived in urban areas.
In general, children who live farther away from a vaccination site are less likely to be vaccinated. While there are many other factors that impact whether a child receives vaccines, assuring that vaccination sites are easily accessible is important. In particular, we need to consider creative strategies to make vaccines more accessible in rural areas.
