Access to COVID-19 vaccination and COVID-19-related hospital admissions and mortality

The analysis of clinical COVID-19 diagnoses recorded at hospital admission or death represents a limitation of the study; it is likely that some older adults experience respiratory illness without COVID-19 being suspected or confirmed. [...]the true difference between vaccinated and undervaccinated groups could be greater than estimated. Social and material deprivation were identified as individual-level risk markers for COVID-19 mortality at an early stage of the pandemic.2 Deprived inner-city areas, with a high proportion of minority ethnic communities and greater population density, experienced more COVID-19 deaths in the initial waves of infection.3 Recent analyses suggest that area deprivation has assumed greater significance as a predictor of COVID-19 mortality over time, with the importance of ethnicity and population density declining.3 Kerr and colleagues show that deprivation is strongly associated with undervaccination against COVID-19 and consequent greater risks of COVID-19 hospital admission or mortality for undervaccinated individuals.