Social and economic inequality in coronavirus disease 2019 vaccination coverage across Illinois counties

Abstract

Abstract Prior research has well established the association of ethno-racial and economic inequality with COVID-19 incidence and mortality rates across counties in the US. In this ecological study, a similar association was found between ethno-racial and economic inequality and COVID-19 full vaccination rates across the 102 counties in the American state of Illinois in the early months of vaccination. Among the counties with income inequality below the median, a county’s poverty rate had a negative association with the proportion of population fully vaccinated. However, among the counties with income inequality above the median, a higher percentage of Black or Hispanic population was persistently associated with a lower proportion of fully vaccinated population over the two-month period from early February to early April of 2021.