Rural, urban disparities seen in US COVID-19 vaccine uptake

Americans living in rural areas are less likely to be vaccinated against COVID-19 than their urban counterparts, and the gap between the two groups did not close during the Delta and Omicron surges, according to research published today in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR).The study was based on county-level vaccine administration data among persons aged 5 years and older who received their first dose of either the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna COVID-19 vaccine, or a single dose of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine, from Dec 14, 2020, through Jan 31, 2022.In rural counties, the rate of first dose vaccine uptake was 58.5%, compared to 75.4% in urban counties.

Those percentages stayed consistent throughout the pandemic, despite surges of virus activity caused by new variants."Among all age groups, vaccination coverage with ≥1 doses was lower in rural counties, with the largest absolute difference (26.2 percentage points) among those aged 12–17 years (38.7% rural, 64.9% urban) and the largest relative difference among those aged 5–11 years (14.7% rural, 30.5% urban)," the authors said.The authors said the disparity can be linked to a lack of access to health care, and, notably, found that nearly 40% of rural parents reported that their child's pediatrician did not recommend a COVID-19 vaccine, compared with only 8% of parents in urban communities.Overall, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) COVID Data Tracker shows that 65% of Americans are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, 76.4% have received at least one dose of vaccine, and 43.8% of fully vaccinated Americans have received a booster dose.New Orleans lifts mask mandates as cases dropAs cases continue to decline around the country, New