Geographically targeted COVID-19 vaccination is more equitable and averts more deaths than age-based thresholds alone

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Abstract

Age-based COVID-19 vaccination prioritizes white people above higher-risk others; geographic prioritization improves equity.

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  1. SciScore for 10.1101/2021.03.25.21254272: (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: We detected the following sentences addressing limitations in the study:
    This study has several limitations. First, the calculations reported in this analysis are based on mortality data obtained from January to December 2020. Therefore, to the extent that mortality patterns by age, race/ethnicity, and place have changed over the course of the pandemic (e.g., responses to selective shutdowns or social distancing patterns), our results may not reflect future deaths averted by vaccination. Second, we were only able to evaluate strategies that prioritize based on information included in death certificates, which notably excludes strategies based on comorbidities. Third, in some of our analyses of racial equity, we included all Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) into one racial/ethnic category. Collapsing across diverse racial/ethnic and Indigenous populations poses challenges with respect to generalizability and implies a universal lived experience which does not exist (34, 35). However, combining groups enabled us to make direct comparisons between states (including a smaller, predominantly white state, Minnesota). Fourth, our study focused on vaccine eligibility and considered vaccine access only via selective uptake simulations. Yet access given eligibility may be as important as eligibility per se in determining equitability in COVID-19 vaccination. Moreover, some strategies are easier to implement than others. Geographic prioritization strategies require states to leverage data to determine where to target, whether broad indexes of r...

    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

    SciScore is an automated tool that is designed to assist expert reviewers by finding and presenting formulaic information scattered throughout a paper in a standard, easy to digest format. SciScore checks for the presence and correctness of RRIDs (research resource identifiers), and for rigor criteria such as sex and investigator blinding. For details on the theoretical underpinning of rigor criteria and the tools shown here, including references cited, please follow this link.