More information on Covid-19 vaccination rate discrecpencies between weathy and poor areas

Vaccination rates follow the money in states with big wealth gaps - STAT The findings back up, with hard data, anecdotal reports that wealthy people have been able to gain access to vaccines ahead of poor people. Olivia Goldhill STAT

The affluent town of Woodbridge, Conn., has less than half the population of neighboring Ansonia, and yet it’s home to more people who have received a Covid-19 vaccine. The inequity is stark: In Woodbridge, where residents have a median household income of $138,320 a year, 19.3% of the population had been vaccinated as of Feb. 4, according to Connecticut health department data. In Ansonia, where the median income is $45,563 a year, just 7.1% have received their first shot.

Connecticut has the most glaring disparity in vaccination rates between its richest and poorest communities — a difference of 65% — according to a STAT analysis of local-level vaccine data in 10 states with the biggest wealth gaps. Four other states — California, Florida, New Jersey, and Mississippi — also have vaccinated a significantly higher proportion of people in the wealthiest 10% of counties.

The discrepancies vary: In California, 156 shots have been given to residents in the richest areas for every 100 vaccines in the poorest counties, while in Mississippi, 111 vaccines have been given to residents of the richest counties for every 100 doses in the poorest places.

In Washington, D.C., the vaccination rate in the wealthiest two wards is more than double that in the two least wealthy.

The findings back up, with hard data, anecdotal reports from around the country that wealthy people have been able to gain access to vaccines ahead of low-income people. “We’re seeing individuals who have privilege and access who are edging out the people who don’t,” said Tekisha Dwan Everette, executive director of Health Equity Solutions in Connecticut and a member of the governor’s Covid-19 advisory task force in that state.

But the analysis also reveals that some states appear to be distributing vaccines more equitably than others. Among states with the greatest wealth gaps, Texas, Tennessee, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, and Illinois did not show a significant county-level income divide in vaccination rates. The analysis excluded states, including Georgia, Louisiana, and Massachusetts, that do not publicly share county-level data on vaccine recipients.

Because counties can contain diverse populations, the analysis is not a definitive indicator of equity, however. Several experts said they expected more precise data would reveal wealth inequalities even in those states with equitable county-level data. And in a number of these states, racial disparities were still evident. ...