In:
PLOS Global Public Health, Public Library of Science (PLoS), Vol. 3, No. 2 ( 2023-2-6), p. e0001378-
Abstract:
The COVID-19 epidemic in the United States has been characterized by two stark disparities. COVID-19 burden has been unequally distributed among racial and ethnic groups and at the same time the mortality rates have been sharply higher among older age groups. These disparities have led some to suggest that inequalities could be reduced by vaccinating front-line workers before vaccinating older individuals, as older individuals in the US are disproportionately Non-Hispanic White. We compare the performance of two distribution policies, one allocating vaccines to front-line workers and another to older individuals aged 65-74-year-old. We estimate both the number of lives saved and the number of years of life saved under each of the policies, overall and in every race/ethnicity groups, in the United States and every state. We show that prioritizing COVID-19 vaccines for 65-74-year-olds saves both more lives and more years of life than allocating vaccines front-line workers in each racial/ethnic group, in the United States as a whole and in nearly every state. When evaluating fairness of vaccine allocation policies, the overall benefit to impact of each population subgroup should be considered, not only the proportion of doses that is distributed to each subgroup. Further work can identify prioritization schemes that perform better on multiple equity metrics.
Type of Medium:
Online Resource
ISSN:
2767-3375
DOI:
10.1371/journal.pgph.0001378
DOI:
10.1371/journal.pgph.0001378.g001
DOI:
10.1371/journal.pgph.0001378.g002
DOI:
10.1371/journal.pgph.0001378.t001
DOI:
10.1371/journal.pgph.0001378.t002
DOI:
10.1371/journal.pgph.0001378.t003
DOI:
10.1371/journal.pgph.0001378.t004
DOI:
10.1371/journal.pgph.0001378.s001
DOI:
10.1371/journal.pgph.0001378.s002
DOI:
10.1371/journal.pgph.0001378.s003
DOI:
10.1371/journal.pgph.0001378.s004
DOI:
10.1371/journal.pgph.0001378.s005
DOI:
10.1371/journal.pgph.0001378.s006
DOI:
10.1371/journal.pgph.0001378.s007
DOI:
10.1371/journal.pgph.0001378.s008
DOI:
10.1371/journal.pgph.0001378.s009
DOI:
10.1371/journal.pgph.0001378.s010
Language:
English
Publisher:
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Publication Date:
2023
detail.hit.zdb_id:
3101394-6