Can vaccination roll-out be more equitable if population risk is taken into account?

Sinclair, David R.; Maharani, Asri; Stow, Daniel; Welsh, Claire E.; Matthews, Fiona E.

Abstract

Background COVID-19 vaccination in many countries, including England, has been prioritised primarily by age. However, people of the same age can have very different health statuses. Frailty is a commonly used metric of health and has been found to be more strongly associated with mortality than age among COVID-19 inpatients. Methods We compared the number of first vaccine doses administered across the 135 NHS Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) of England to both the over 50 population and the estimated frail population in each area. Area-based frailty estimates were generated using the English Longitudinal Survey of Ageing (ELSA), a national survey of older people. We also compared the number of doses to the number of people with other risk factors associated with COVID- 19: Atrial fibrillation, chronic kidney disease, diabetes, learning disabilities, obesity and smoking status. Results We estimate that after 79 days of the vaccine program, across all Clinical Commissioning Group areas, the number of people who received a first vaccine per frail person ranged from 4.4 (95% CI 4.0-4.8) and 20.1 (95% CI 18.3-21.9). The prevalences of other risk factors were also poorly associated with the prevalence of vaccination across England. Conclusions Vaccination with age-based priority created area-based inequities in the number of doses administered relative to the number of people who are frail or have other risk factors associated with COVID-19. As frailty has previously been found to be more strongly associated with mortality than age for COVID-19 inpatients, an age-based priority system may increase the risk of mortality in some areas during the vaccine roll-out period. Authorities planning COVID-19 vaccination programmes should consider the disadvantages of an age-based priority system.

Citation

Sinclair, D. R., Maharani, A., Stow, D., Welsh, C. E., & Matthews, F. E. (2021). Can vaccination roll-out be more equitable if population risk is taken into account?. PLoS ONE, 16(November), Article e0259990. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0259990

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Oct 29, 2021
• Online Publication Date: Nov 15, 2021
• Publication Date: Nov 1, 2021
• Deposit Date: Mar 31, 2024
• Publicly Available Date: Apr 3, 2024
• Journal: PLoS ONE
• Print ISSN: 1932-6203
• Electronic ISSN: 1932-6203
• Publisher: Public Library of Science
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 16
• Issue: November
• Article Number: e0259990
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0259990
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/4451254