Outcomes of COVID-19 Vaccination Efforts in Florida from December 14, 2020 to March 15, 2021 on Older Individuals

  1. Scott. A. Rivkees
  2. Shamarial Roberson
  3. Carina Blackmore

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Abstract

Per-capita, Florida ranks second in those 65 years of age and older (20.5%) with more than 4,500,000 individuals in this category. COVID-19 vaccine was allocated in a phased roll-out beginning December 14, 2020. Phase 1A included health care personnel with direct patient contact, and residents and staff of nursing homes (NHs) and assisted living facilities (ALFs). Following this initial phase, individuals 65 years of age and older became eligible for vaccination, along with individuals determined by hospital providers to be extremely medically vulnerable to COVID-19. This strategy was based on the desire to most immediately reduce morbidity and mortality, as COVID-19 morbidity and mortality is age-related. Through March 15, 2021, 4,338,099 individuals received COVID-19 vaccine, including 2,431,540 individuals who completed their vaccination series. Of all those vaccinated, 70% were 65 years of age and older, and 63% of those 65 years of age and older. Beginning February 1, 2021, the decline in the number of new cases per week became greater in those 65 years of age and older than those younger. By March 15, 2021, the number of new cases, hospitalizations, and deaths per day for those 65 years of age and older relative to mid-January, were 82%, 80%, and 92% lower respectively. In comparison, the number of new cases, hospitalizations, and deaths per day for those younger than 65 years of age were 70%, 60%, and 87% lower respectively. Reductions in rates in those 65 year of age and older, were thus greater than in those who were younger (p <0.01; Wilcoxon test). These data show that vaccination efforts directed at those 65 years of age and older results in accelerated rates of overall declines in COVID-19 hospitalizations and mortality.

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    SciScore for 10.1101/2021.04.05.21254722: (What is this?)

    Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.

    Table 1: Rigor

    Institutional Review Board Statementnot detected.
    Randomizationnot detected.
    Blindingnot detected.
    Power Analysisnot detected.
    Sex as a biological variablenot detected.

    Table 2: Resources

    No key resources detected.

    Results from OddPub: We did not detect open data. We also did not detect open code. Researchers are encouraged to share open data when possible (see Nature blog).

    Results from LimitationRecognizer: An explicit section about the limitations of the techniques employed in this study was not found. We encourage authors to address study limitations.

    Results from TrialIdentifier: No clinical trial numbers were referenced.

    Results from Barzooka: We did not find any issues relating to the usage of bar graphs.

    Results from JetFighter: We did not find any issues relating to colormaps.

    Results from rtransparent:
    • Thank you for including a conflict of interest statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • Thank you for including a funding statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • No protocol registration statement was detected.

    About SciScore

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  2. Version published to 10.1101/2021.04.05.21254722v1 on medRxiv