Low Vaccination Rates Show Health Disparities, Impact Population Health

According to a study published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, racial and ethnic minority communities are presenting low vaccination rates, highlighting health disparities and impacting population health.

Vaccinations can significantly decrease deaths from vaccine-preventable diseases in children to 300 per year in the United States. However, more than 42,000 adults die each year from vaccine-preventable diseases.

Annually, influenza causes around 140,000 to 710,000 hospitalizations and 12,000 to 61,000 deaths in adults. Additionally, vulnerable communities find themselves at higher risk of influenza-related hospitalization. Pneumococcal disease causes around 242,000 hospitalizations and 16,000 deaths in adults aged 65 years or older each year.

As COVID-19 continues to spread around the world, racial and ethnic minority groups are being disproportionately impacted, which presents threats to population health management. 

“Currently, the biggest public health concern we are facing is the COVID-19 pandemic, for which we now have safe and effective vaccines available in the USA,” study authors Kosuke Kawai, ScD, and Alison Tse Kawai, ScD said in a press release.

“Unfortunately, as we observed for vaccines against influenza, pneumococcal, shingles, and Tdap, a combination vaccine that protects against tetanus, diphtheria, and pertussis, adults from racial and ethnic minorities have had lower rates of COVID-19 vaccine uptake.”

The study used data analytics and examined trends in vaccination rates from 2010 to 2019, focusing on race/ethnicity as well as socioeconomic status. Researchers studied trends over time in vaccination coverage for influenza, pneumococcal disease, herpes zoster, and Tdap using the National Health Interview Surveys (NHIS) from 2010 to 2019.

The survey collected data on demographics, health status, insurance coverage, healthcare access, and health behaviors from a nationally representative sample.

The study portrays that racial and ethnic disparities in vaccination rates ( influenzas, pneumococcal, shingles, and Tdap vaccinations) have persisted over the last decade in adults. The data indicated that Black and Latino populations had lower vaccination rates than White populations.

The results showed race/ethnicity, household income, education level, and health insurance type were significantly associated with an individual’s decision on whether or not to get influenza; pneumococcal; tetanus, diphtheria, and acellular pertussis; and zoster vaccinations.

Possibility due to the Affordable Care Act, socioeconomic disparities in influenza vaccine uptake has moderately narrowed among those 18 to 64 from 2010 to 2019. However, socioeconomic disparities are still present in vaccine uptake among adults 64 years and older.

“Although the COVID-19 pandemic is the primary public health concern at the moment, our findings also serve as a reminder of the importance of continuing to strive towards equity in immunization rates for vaccines against other vaccine-preventable diseases,” the researchers stated.

“More than 42,000 adults die from vaccine-preventable diseases in the US (not including COVID-19) every year. In addition to building trust and vaccine confidence through community engagement, reducing cost barriers especially for adults 65 years or older and implementing provider/patient reminder and recall systems using an Immunization Information System, could narrow the disparities in immunization rates.”