COVID-19 vaccination rates lower among adults with vision, hearing disability

COVID-19 vaccine initiation is lower among adults with vision or hearing disabilities compared with adults without disabilities, according to a study published online Aug. 11 in JAMA Ophthalmology.

Kea Turner, Ph.D., from the Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Florida, and colleagues estimated the prevalence and factors of COVID-19 vaccination among U.S. adults with vision or hearing disabilities. The analysis included 916,085 adults participating in the U.S. Census Bureau Household Pulse Survey (April 2021 through March 2022).

The researchers found that adults with serious difficulty seeing and blindness had lower vaccination rates versus adults with little to no vision impairment. Similarly, adults with serious difficulty hearing and deafness were less likely to initiate COVID-19 vaccination versus adults with little to no hearing impairment. In an adjusted analysis, adults with blindness or deafness were less likely to initiate COVID-19 vaccination versus adults with little to no vision or hearing impairment.

"The findings suggest that, compared with adults without vision or hearing impairment, COVID-19 vaccination rates were lower among adults with vision or hearing disabilities, and additional research may be needed to monitor COVID-19 vaccination disparities among this population," the authors write.