Emerging Infectious Diseases (May 2024)

COVID-19 Vaccination Site Accessibility, United States, December 11, 2020–March 29, 2022

  • Randy Yee,
  • David Carranza,
  • Christine Kim,
  • James Phillip Trinidad,
  • James L. Tobias,
  • Roma Bhatkoti,
  • Sachiko Kuwabara

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3201/eid3005.230357
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 30, no. 5
pp. 947 – 955

Abstract

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During December 11, 2020–March 29, 2022, the US government delivered ≈700 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine to vaccination sites, resulting in vaccination of ≈75% of US adults during that period. We evaluated accessibility of vaccination sites. Sites were accessible by walking within 15 minutes by 46.6% of persons, 30 minutes by 74.8%, 45 minutes by 82.8%, and 60 minutes by 86.7%. When limited to populations in counties with high social vulnerability, accessibility by walking was 55.3%, 81.1%, 86.7%, and 89.4%, respectively. By driving, lowest accessibility was 96.5% at 15 minutes. For urban/rural categories, the 15-minute walking accessibility between noncore and large central metropolitan areas ranged from 27.2% to 65.1%; driving accessibility was 79.9% to 99.5%. By 30 minutes driving accessibility for all urban/rural categories was >95.9%. Walking time variations across jurisdictions and between urban/rural areas indicate that potential gains could have been made by improving walkability or making transportation more readily available.

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