COVID Mortality May Be Reduced By Designating Vaccines Based On Multiple Factors

Allocating COVID-19 vaccines based on health and socioeconomic factors may help minimize severe outcomes like high death rates as per a study at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, published in the open-access journal PLOS //Medicine. The United States’ strategies for COVID-19 vaccination are presently based on individual characteristics such as age and occupation. And the factors like population-level health and socioeconomic conditions to determine the risk of COVID-19 mortality are understudied.

The study team thereby tested the county-level estimates of 14 indicators associated with COVID-19 mortality from public data sources. It was observed that almost 43% of COVID-19 mortality in the US had been associated with county-level socioeconomic indicators and health vulnerabilities (especially chronic kidney disease).

Health and Socioeconomic Indicators

"This information can guide the distribution of vaccines, particularly in parts of the world where vaccine supply is limited, in order to get them to communities where they are needed most," says senior author Jeffrey Shaman, Ph.D., professor of environmental health sciences at Columbia Mailman School of Public Health.

Among other health indicators, mortality was estimated to increase by 43 per thousand residents for every 10% increase in the prevalence of chronic heart disease, 7 for diabetes, 4 for COPD, 4 for high cholesterol, 3 for high blood pressure, and 3 for obesity prevalence respectively. Among socioeconomic indicators, mortality was estimated to increase by 39 deaths per thousand for every 1% increase in percent living in nursing homes, and by 3 and 2 for each 1% increase in the percentage of the population who were elderly (65+ years) and uninsured 18-64-year-olds, respectively.

Higher-income (a thousand dollar increase in per capita income) was associated with a reduced mortality rate. However, lags like reporting of COVID-19 cases and deaths posed a limitation to the study.

Source-Medindia