Background Mass vaccination has been a key strategy in effectively containing global COVID-19 pandemic that posed unprecedented social and economic challenges to many countries. However, vaccination rates vary across space and socio-economic factors, and are likely to depend on the accessibility to vaccination services, which is under-researched in literature. This study aims to empirically identify the spatially heterogeneous relationship between COVID-19 vaccination rates and socio-economic factors in England. Methods We investigated the percentage of over-18 fully vaccinated people at the small-area level across England up to 18 November 2021. We used multiscale geographically weighted regression (MGWR) to model the spatially heterogeneous relationship between vaccination rates and socio-economic determinants, including ethnic, age, economic, and accessibility factors. Results This study indicates that the selected MGWR model can explain 83.2% of the total variance of vaccination rates. The variables exhibiting a positive association with vaccination rates in most areas include proportion of population over 40, car ownership, average household income, and spatial accessibility to vaccination. In contrast, population under 40, less deprived population, and black or mixed ethnicity are negatively associated with the vaccination rates. Conclusions Our findings indicate the importance of improving the spatial accessibility to vaccinations in developing regions and among specific population groups in order to promote COVID-19 vaccination.
Background The global Covid-19 pandemic has caused numerous deaths and illnesses, posing unprecedented social and economic challenges to many countries. One of the key strategies to contain the pandemic is mass vaccination programme. However, vaccination rates vary across space and socio-economic factors, and are likely to depend on the accessibility to vaccination services. There is a lack of quantitative understanding of how spatial-socio-economic factors influence the Covid-19 vaccination rates in England. Methods We investigated the percentage of over-18 fully vaccinated people at the small-area level across England up to 18 November 2021. We used (multiscale) geographically weighted regression to model the spatially heterogeneous relationship between vaccination rates and socio-economic determinants, including ethnic, age, economic, and accessibility factors. Results This study indicates that the selected model can explain 83.2% of the total variance of vaccination rates. The variables exhibiting a positive association with vaccination rates in most areas include proportion of population over 40, car ownership, average household income, and accessibility to vaccination. In contrast, population under 40, low multiple deprivation level, and black or mixed ethnicity are negatively associated with the vaccination rates. Conclusions Our findings indicate the importance of improving the spatial accessibility to vaccinations in developing regions and among specific population groups in order to promote Covid-19 vaccination.
The global Covid-19 pandemic has caused numerous deaths and illnesses and posed unprecedented social and economic challenges to many countries. One of the key strategies to contain the pandemic is mass vaccination. While it is essential to ensure safe and easy accessibility to Covid-19 vaccines for all communities, limited research has been carried out to understand and validate the spatial accessibility of these vaccines. This study addresses this gap by measuring and validating the spatial accessibility to Covid-19 vaccines with a particular focus on England, United Kingdom. More specifically, we compare three floating catchment area (FCA) methods with differing parameters for measuring the small-scale spatial accessibility to vaccination services. Then, we calibrate these accessibility measurements using a beta regression model and the reported vaccination uptake rates. The results show that the three-step FCA method with a distance parameter of 30 miles is the optimal model for measuring the spatial accessibility to Covid-19 vaccines. The findings provide an improved understanding of the spatial inequality of vaccine services. Further, the framework of calibrating spatial accessibility to vaccine services is generalisable to other types of healthcare services.
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