Racial and ethnic disparities in COVID-19 booster vaccination among U.S. older adults differ by geographic region and Medicare enrollment.

ABSTRACT:

Introduction

COVID-19 booster vaccines are highly effective at reducing severe illness and death from COVID-19. Research is needed to identify whether racial and ethnic disparities observed for the primary series of the COVID-19 vaccines persist for booster vaccinations and how those disparities may vary by other characteristics. We aimed to measure racial and ethnic differences in booster vaccine receipt among U.S. Medicare beneficiaries and characterize potential variation by demographic characteristics.

Methods

We conducted a cohort study using CVS Health and Walgreens pharmacy data linked to Medicare claims. We included community-dwelling Medicare beneficiaries aged ≥66 years who received two mRNA vaccine doses (BNT162b2 and mRNA-1273) as of 8/1/2021. We followed benefic

SUBMITTER: Hayes KN 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10456997 | biostudies-literature | 2023

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature