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DOH Successfully Distributing COVID-19 Vaccines to Socially Vulnerable Populations
SANTA FE- On Thursday, the New Mexico Department of Health (DOH) announced the continued success of COVID-19 vaccine distribution to the state's most vulnerable populations. As of last week, individuals who live in counties with a high Social Vulnerability Index (SVI) are more likely to have been vaccinated than individuals living in counties with a low SVI.
“New Mexico is achieving two important goals at once - distributing vaccine faster than most states, and ensuring that vaccine goes to those who are most vulnerable to COVID-19,” said DOH Deputy Secretary Dr. Laura Parajon.
According to the CDC, “The Social Vulnerability Index (SVI) uses U.S. Census data to determine the relative social vulnerability of every census tract. The SVI ranks each tract on 14 social factors and groups them into four related themes; Socioeconomic Status, Household Composition & Disability, Minority Status & Language, and Housing & Transportation. Each tract receives a separate ranking for each of the four themes, as well as an overall ranking. The SVI can help emergency response planners and public health officials identify and map the communities that will most likely need support before, during, and after a hazardous event.”
Below is a map representing the percentage of fully vaccinated individuals in each county, along with that county’s SVI.
DOH uses data provided by our partners at UNM’s Geospatial and Population Studies Program, as well as the U.S Census Bureau. Please note: Rio Arriba County is missing because the data needed to estimate SVI was not collected by the U.S. Census Bureau.
The red line is the trend line. On the x-axis, counties to the left have lower SVI, and counties to the right have higher SVI. The size of the bubble represents the proportion of the New Mexico population living in that county. Los Alamos County, which is at the top left, has a relatively high vaccination rate and low SVI, whereas McKinley County, which is at the top right, has a relatively high vaccination rate and high SVI.
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