Never before has a vaccine rollout been so rapid or so expansive, protecting lives and livelihoods in a way that surpassed even the most ambitious previous efforts. But it has come at a cost: as the global reaction to COVID-19 unfolded, the distribution of vaccines has been deeply inequitable.
The reason is not a lack of effort: it’s because the vaccine supply has been constrained by limited production capacity and a shortage of delivery channels. As production increases and channels expand, we can expect the distribution of vaccines to be fairer.
In the meantime, local partners are working to maximize the impact of the existing vaccine supply through a series of innovative and community-driven initiatives. For example, Denver’s COVID-19 Vaccine Equity Taskforce, led by Rick Palacio, is using “ring vaccination” to bring vaccines into low-income neighborhoods. This strategy involves setting up temporary mobile clinics where a full array of services is available, including testing and accelerated contact tracing, as well as walk-up and scheduled vaccination.
While the benefits of age-based rollout strategies remain very important, new research suggests that a dynamic prioritization approach may be more effective than a one-size-fits-all approach in the short term. At high daily rollout rates, prioritizing groups with many interactions first appears to yield the best results from a health utility perspective (