New Tool to Reduce COVID-19 Vaccine Deserts

The study, published Feb. 2 and conducted by experts at the Boston Children’s Hospital, examined the widespread barrier of vaccine deserts, defined as geographic areas that are “more than 15 minutes away from the nearest active COVID-19 vaccination site.”

Based on this research, Boston Children’s Hospital partnered with Ariadne Labs to develop an open source tool that maps these areas across the country to better inform how vaccines can be distributed and made available to desert populations.

In addition to identifying desert areas, the Vaccine Equity Planner also considers any facilities in vaccine deserts that can be used to improve access to vaccines.

“The maintenance of vaccine deserts in every state as COVID-19 booster recommendations are developed suggests that vaccine delivery can be improved,” the researchers wrote. “Under-resourced public health systems benefit from tools that provide accurate and actionable data in real time.”

The researchers also found that long-distance travel or having to take time off from work to get to a vaccination site are two areas that the unvaccinated cite as barriers to updating their vaccines.

The researchers hope that the data generated through this tool will become a resource for communities and will further “support data-driven public health decision making.”

Further research also supports the findings that increasing the availability and convenience of COVID-19 vaccination can increase vaccination rates.

Content Source

California Press News – Latest News:
Los Angeles Local News || Bay Area Local News || California News || Lifestyle News || National news || Travel News || Health News

Related Articles

Back to top button