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Predictors of COVID-19 Vaccination among Veterans Experiencing Homelessness

Sufficient uptake of the COVID-19 vaccine is key to slowing the spread of the coronavirus among the most vulnerable in society, including individuals experiencing homelessness. However, COVID-19 vaccination rates among the Veteran homeless population are currently unknown. This study examines the CO...

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Autores principales: Balut, Michelle D., Chu, Karen, Gin, June L., Dobalian, Aram, Der-Martirosian, Claudia
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8619196/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34835200
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/vaccines9111268
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author Balut, Michelle D.
Chu, Karen
Gin, June L.
Dobalian, Aram
Der-Martirosian, Claudia
author_facet Balut, Michelle D.
Chu, Karen
Gin, June L.
Dobalian, Aram
Der-Martirosian, Claudia
author_sort Balut, Michelle D.
collection PubMed
description Sufficient uptake of the COVID-19 vaccine is key to slowing the spread of the coronavirus among the most vulnerable in society, including individuals experiencing homelessness. However, COVID-19 vaccination rates among the Veteran homeless population are currently unknown. This study examines the COVID-19 vaccination rate among homeless Veterans who receive care at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), and the factors that are associated with vaccine uptake. Using VA administrative and clinical data, bivariate and multivariate analyses were conducted to identify the sociodemographic, health-related, and healthcare and housing services utilization factors that influenced COVID-19 vaccine uptake during the first eight months of the vaccine rollout (December 2020–August 2021). Of the 83,528 Veterans experiencing homelessness included in the study, 45.8% were vaccinated for COVID-19. Non-white, older Veterans (65+), females, those who received the seasonal flu vaccine, and Veterans with multiple comorbidities and mental health conditions were more likely to be vaccinated. There was a strong association between COVID-19 vaccination and Veterans who utilized VA healthcare and housing services. VA healthcare and homeless service providers are particularly well-positioned to provide trusted information and overcome access barriers for homeless Veterans to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.
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spelling pubmed-86191962021-11-27 Predictors of COVID-19 Vaccination among Veterans Experiencing Homelessness Balut, Michelle D. Chu, Karen Gin, June L. Dobalian, Aram Der-Martirosian, Claudia Vaccines (Basel) Article Sufficient uptake of the COVID-19 vaccine is key to slowing the spread of the coronavirus among the most vulnerable in society, including individuals experiencing homelessness. However, COVID-19 vaccination rates among the Veteran homeless population are currently unknown. This study examines the COVID-19 vaccination rate among homeless Veterans who receive care at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), and the factors that are associated with vaccine uptake. Using VA administrative and clinical data, bivariate and multivariate analyses were conducted to identify the sociodemographic, health-related, and healthcare and housing services utilization factors that influenced COVID-19 vaccine uptake during the first eight months of the vaccine rollout (December 2020–August 2021). Of the 83,528 Veterans experiencing homelessness included in the study, 45.8% were vaccinated for COVID-19. Non-white, older Veterans (65+), females, those who received the seasonal flu vaccine, and Veterans with multiple comorbidities and mental health conditions were more likely to be vaccinated. There was a strong association between COVID-19 vaccination and Veterans who utilized VA healthcare and housing services. VA healthcare and homeless service providers are particularly well-positioned to provide trusted information and overcome access barriers for homeless Veterans to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. MDPI 2021-11-03 /pmc/articles/PMC8619196/ /pubmed/34835200 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/vaccines9111268 Text en © 2021 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Balut, Michelle D.
Chu, Karen
Gin, June L.
Dobalian, Aram
Der-Martirosian, Claudia
Predictors of COVID-19 Vaccination among Veterans Experiencing Homelessness
title Predictors of COVID-19 Vaccination among Veterans Experiencing Homelessness
title_full Predictors of COVID-19 Vaccination among Veterans Experiencing Homelessness
title_fullStr Predictors of COVID-19 Vaccination among Veterans Experiencing Homelessness
title_full_unstemmed Predictors of COVID-19 Vaccination among Veterans Experiencing Homelessness
title_short Predictors of COVID-19 Vaccination among Veterans Experiencing Homelessness
title_sort predictors of covid-19 vaccination among veterans experiencing homelessness
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8619196/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34835200
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/vaccines9111268
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