A new issue brief from SHADAC researchers, funded by the California Health Care Foundation (CHCF), examines flu vaccination rates as the closest possible analog to understanding how the implementation of a widespread coronavirus vaccination campaign will unfold.

Using data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) survey, the brief analyzes flu vaccination rates among United States and California adults (age 18 and older). The analysis also includes a breakdown of findings across several demographic categories and by indicators of health and health care access for both California and the U.S. across multiple data years (2017-2019). Estimates for these three years were pooled in order to achieve greater accuracy in measuring data for smaller subgroups.

Key findings from the brief indicate that current flu vaccination rates fall short of the needed targets to reach COVID-19 herd immunity goals not only among the overall population, but also across all subgroups, even those with the highest reported vaccinations (adults age 65 and older), for both California and the U.S. However, understanding the wide variation in reported vaccine rates among subpopulations provides states (such as California) with the ability to identify which groups may be hardest to reach with a COVID-19 vaccine as well as craft strategies and guide outreach to ensure the greatest equity and effectiveness in vaccination efforts.

Click on the image to the right to download the brief, or head to the SHADAC blog to learn more about the key findings of this brief.

SHADAC researchers also developed a set of two-page infographics that explore state-level estimates on flu vaccination rates for adults (age 18+) using data for all 50 states and the District of Columbia (D.C.) from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) survey.

This work is supported by the California Health Care Foundation.