• HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
Sunday, August 24, 2025
BIOENGINEER.ORG
No Result
View All Result
  • Login
  • HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
  • HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
No Result
View All Result
Bioengineer.org
No Result
View All Result
Home NEWS Science News Immunology

Allocating COVID-19 vaccines based on health and socioeconomics could reduce mortality

Bioengineer by Bioengineer
July 13, 2021
in Immunology
Reading Time: 2 mins read
0
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on LinkedinShare on RedditShare on Telegram

Study suggests spatial relationship between COVID-19 mortality and population-level health factors

IMAGE

Credit: Kandula S and Shaman J, 2021, PLOS Medicine

COVID-19 vaccination strategies in the United States are informed by individual characteristics such as age and occupation. A study published in the open access journal PLOS Medicine by Sasikiran Kandula and Jeffrey Shaman of Columbia University, New York, United States suggests that including socioeconomic indicators as prioritization criteria for vaccination may help minimize severe outcomes, particularly deaths.

Efforts to reduce COVID-19 mortality rates in the US have focused on prioritizing vaccination initially for those at a higher risk of severe outcomes. The effectiveness of population-level health and socioeconomic indicators to determine risk of COVID-19 mortality is understudied. To test the hypothesis that health and socioeconomic indicators can accurately model risk of COVID-19 mortality, the researchers extracted county-level estimates of 14 indicators associated with COVID-19 mortality from public data sources. They then modeled the proportion of county-level COVID-19 mortality explained by identified health and socioeconomic indicators, and assessed the estimated effect of each predictor.

The authors found evidence for a spatial relationship between COVID-19 mortality and 9 health and socioeconomic indicators. The prevalence of chronic kidney disease and the proportion of the population resident in nursing homes had the largest individual effect on COVID-19 mortality. Although the research suggests a correlation between health and socioeconomic indicators and COVID-19 mortality, the study was limited by lags in reporting COVID-19 cases and deaths, and therefore these may have been underestimated.

According to the authors, “Our findings here show that differential risks of severe outcomes from COVID-19 across populations can be in part estimated from the structures and contexts in which the outbreak occurs, for example, a population’s quality of health, its access to healthcare and the disparities therein. While vaccine supply continues to be limited for most, and especially low- and middle-income, countries, these population level indicators may help inform optimal allocation.”.

###

Research Article

Peer-reviewed; Observational study; Humans

In your coverage please use this URL to provide access to the freely available paper:
http://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article?id=10.1371/journal.pmed.1003693

Funding: This work is funded in part by a grant from the National Science Foundation (DMS-2027369) and a gift from the Morris-Singer Foundation to JS. The funders had no role in study design, analysis or decision to publish.

Competing Interests: The authors of this manuscript report the following competing interests: JS and Columbia University disclose ownership of SK Analytics and JS discloses personal fees from BNI (Business Network International). SK consulted for SK Analytics.

Citation: Kandula S, Shaman J (2021) Investigating associations between COVID-19 mortality and population-level health and socioeconomic indicators in the United States: A modeling study. PLoS Med 18(7): e1003693. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1003693

Media Contact
PLOS Medicine
[email protected]

Related Journal Article

http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1003693

Tags: BiologyImmunology/Allergies/AsthmaInfectious/Emerging DiseasesInternal MedicineMedicine/HealthPublic HealthPulmonary/Respiratory MedicineVaccinesVirology
Share13Tweet8Share2ShareShareShare2

Related Posts

IMAGE

UMass Amherst grad student awarded fellowship for food allergy research

July 23, 2021
IMAGE

Less-sensitive COVID-19 tests may still achieve optimal results if enough people tested

July 22, 2021

Public trust in CDC, FDA, and Fauci holds steady, survey shows

July 20, 2021

USC study shows male-female differences in immune cell function

July 19, 2021
Please login to join discussion

POPULAR NEWS

  • blank

    Molecules in Focus: Capturing the Timeless Dance of Particles

    141 shares
    Share 56 Tweet 35
  • Breakthrough in Computer Hardware Advances Solves Complex Optimization Challenges

    120 shares
    Share 48 Tweet 30
  • New Drug Formulation Transforms Intravenous Treatments into Rapid Injections

    115 shares
    Share 46 Tweet 29
  • Neuropsychiatric Risks Linked to COVID-19 Revealed

    81 shares
    Share 32 Tweet 20

About

We bring you the latest biotechnology news from best research centers and universities around the world. Check our website.

Follow us

Recent News

Unlocking High-Yield Rice Cultivars Through Multivariate Analysis

New Inhibitor Targets Glioma Progression Effectively

Influence of Diet and Rumen Source on Fermentation

  • Contact Us

Bioengineer.org © Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Homepages
    • Home Page 1
    • Home Page 2
  • News
  • National
  • Business
  • Health
  • Lifestyle
  • Science

Bioengineer.org © Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved.