Giving County Health Leaders the Right Data to Boost COVID-19 Vaccination Rates

Stopping the spread of COVID-19 requires rapid, widespread vaccination coverage. Yet there are big differences in vaccine uptake rates among communities. To use their scarce time and resources effectively and equitably, local health authorities must identify pockets of under-vaccination. And, if they are to tackle inequities in vaccine rollout, they must also understand the particular challenges these communities face.

To address this challenge, the Pima County Health Department collaborated with Partners In Health United States and Surgo Ventures to improve COVID-19 vaccination rates by focusing their resources on areas most at risk from the negative impacts of the pandemic. To accomplish this, Surgo Ventures created a dashboard that provides real-time, geographically precise insights into the barriers to higher vaccination coverage and why some areas are more vulnerable. 

The COVID-19 Vaccine Solutions Dashboard enables decision-makers to:

• Identify vulnerable areas with rising COVID-19 case rates and low vaccination coverage
• Understand the factors making these communities more vulnerable to the negative health, social, and economic impacts of COVID-19
• Understand the possible drivers of lower vaccination rates, from poor infrastructure and access to irregular care-seeking behaviors

This hyperlocal analysis makes it possible to design locally appropriate and precise vaccine uptake strategies for each census tract. Health department teams and local community-based organizations can use this tool to design coordinated, tailored interventions – such as campaigns or communications strategies – to drive demand for COVID-19 vaccines or improve vaccine access. And it can identify areas that are underperforming or exceeding expectations, so that the lessons can be applied to wider efforts to reduce COVID-19 vaccine inequity. For the first time, decision-makers have a single tool supporting a precision response to reduce vaccine inequities.

While the dashboard currently focuses on Pima County, this approach can be adapted to any other community in the United States.

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