Despite making up a majority of COVID-19 cases, minority communities in Massachusetts have had less access to vaccines, a new study finds.
Researchers from Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard University, both in the Boston, Massachusetts area, joined to investigate vaccination and case rates among different communities in the state.
They found that some areas with larger minority populations than average, such as Chelsea and East Boston, were more vulnerable to the virus due to low vaccination rates compared to higher infections.
In total, minority communities account for around 60 percent of total Covid cases in the state from January 2020 to June 2021, but only 30 percent of total vaccinations.
White Bay Staters are more likely to have received the COVID-19 vaccine but less likely to have contracted the virus than minorities in the state, a new study found (above)
Communities with lower socio-economic standing were found to have much lower vaccination rates relative to COVID-19 risk in their communities when compared to higher income areas of Massachusetts
Researchers, who published their findings in JAMA Health Forum on Friday, looked at 6.7 million Massachusetts residents across 293 communities.
They analyzed COVID-19 testing and vaccination data from January 29, 2020, to July 24, 2021.
The team calculated a vaccine-to-infection (VIR) ratio for each community, which shows an area's vaccination rate relative to its overall case and Covid transmission rate.
The researchers also used statistical analysis to find disparities between cases and vaccinations across racial and socio-economic barriers.
They found that Asians, African-Americans, Hispanics and mixed race people in Massachusetts accounted for around 60 percent of
