The spring COVID-19 vaccination program in Sweden is in its last levels in a number of elements of the nation. This system has encompassed free booster doses for these at elevated threat of great sickness, together with the very oldest members of society.
Parallel to this, analysis is being introduced on the components which have influenced COVID-19 vaccination uptake amongst older individuals each throughout and after the pandemic, as much as the start of 2024. The research, revealed within the journal Public Well being, encompasses greater than two million people aged 65 and over.
Geography and socioeconomics
The outcomes affirm the emergence of sure regional variations in vaccination uptake amongst older individuals in Sweden. When the vaccines had been launched in December 2020, 95 % of older individuals had been vaccinated, with no important variations in uptake between areas in Sweden. This has, nevertheless, progressively modified.
The research intervals for booster and seasonal doses exhibit a lowering proportion of older individuals persevering with to get vaccinated, particularly within the counties of Skåne, Stockholm, and Västra Götaland and amongst these aged 65-80 years. The bottom figures within the research, lower than 60 % vaccinated, had been for 65-80-year-olds within the three metropolitan counties, for full vaccination with a sixth dose.
Along with regional variations, components aside from geographical had been additionally seen, and these had higher affect. Amongst males, individuals born outdoors Sweden, and other people with low revenue and a low stage of schooling, the proportion of vaccinated people was significantly decrease. That is in step with earlier research, indicating that the variations stay regardless of the measures taken.
The variations have to be diminished
One potential rationalization for the regional variations is taken into account to be shortcomings in nationwide coordination and priorities. The researchers from the College of Gothenburg, Karolinska Institutet, and the Public Well being Company of Sweden consider that the outcomes underline the significance of utilizing focused interventions to attenuate regional variations.
Each regional and socioeconomic inequalities are described as threats to vaccination packages. The primary creator of the research is Yiyi Xu, Affiliate Professor of Occupational and Environmental Drugs at Sahlgrenska Academy, College of Gothenburg:
“Decrease vaccination uptake will increase vulnerability to extreme COVID-19 and post-COVID, particularly amongst older individuals. Nationwide coordination stays key to making sure uniform vaccination protection, and the main target must be on socioeconomically deprived teams that constantly present decrease uptake charges,” she says.
Linking COVID-19 vaccinations to routine well being interventions, reminiscent of influenza vaccinations, may enhance the COVID-19 vaccination uptake charge, scale back the limitations that appear to exist, and decrease public well being prices.”
Yiyi Xu, Affiliate Professor of Occupational and Environmental Drugs at Sahlgrenska Academy, College of Gothenburg
Supply:
Journal reference:
Xu, Y., et al. (2025). Regional variations in COVID-19 vaccine uptake and their determinants amongst Swedish older adults. Public Well being. doi.org/10.1016/j.puhe.2025.03.028.