A more comprehensive view of vaccination equity and ways to address it in the United States can help support the recovery of Centers for Disease Control-recommended vaccinations to protect communities from vaccine-preventable diseases. A new issue brief, written by experts at Merck and Mathematica, sheds light on this issue.
The brief describes findings from a scan of the vaccination equity landscape, conducted from April to September 2021. The scan synthesizes information from key stakeholders at the national, state, and local levels, providing insights on whether and how vaccination equity fits within the priorities of health equity policy and advocacy organizations.
“The pandemic offers us a window into many of the long-standing challenges to achieving vaccination and health equity,” said Divya Vohra, senior researcher and co-author. “This brief describes evidence-informed lessons from policy and advocacy organizations that have been working on this important issue. The public, private, and nonprofit sectors can draw on these lessons as they work toward equitable distribution, access, and uptake of routine vaccinations.”
“This study gives leaders and organizations at the national, state, and community levels the evidence-informed recommendations they need as they strive for vaccination equity, and it illuminates potential policy pathways to support this work,” added Andrew Hurwitz, senior director of Mathematica’s Commercial Healthcare and Life Sciences practice.
This work is part of Mathematica’s ongoing partnership with Merck on a range of projects to promote and deliver high-quality and efficient health care.