COVID-19 vaccine primary series coverage reached 76 percent among adults aged 60 years and older by the end of 2022, according to a study published in the Feb. 3 issue of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

Man Kai Wong, M.P.H., from the CDC in Atlanta, and colleagues examined age-specific mortality and global vaccination rollout among older adults stratified by country World Bank Income status.

The researchers found that persons aged 60 years and older accounted for more than 80 percent of overall COVID-19 mortality across all income groups; 80 percent of the overall estimated excess mortality was accounted for by upper- and lower-middle-income countries. Global supply of vaccines was scaled up sufficiently to meet country needs by late 2021. However, among adults aged 60 years and older, country-reported median completed primary series coverage reached 76 percent by the end of 2022, which was below the World Health Organization goal of 100 percent coverage for at-risk populations.

“Because vaccination rates among older adult populations remain below the recommended global vaccination target of 100 percent, efforts are needed to understand and address the reasons that target populations are not reached by current vaccination programs, while integrating COVID-19 vaccination into primary care systems to facilitate completion of a primary COVID-19 vaccination series and receipt of booster doses recommended by WHO and national health authorities for all older adults,” the authors write.

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Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report

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