Extending the Vaccine Coverage Analysis Solution

[Anonymous User]

The Vaccine Coverage Analysis solution can be used by health and human services departments and public safety departments to identify underserved populations and optimize plans for disease vaccination sites. By default, it is configured to identify populations at highest risk of Coronavirus (COVID-19) using a set of pre-determined demographic factors and data enrichment. But it can easily be adjusted focus in on specific priority populations in each phase, especially important to answering questions of vaccine equity. It is also possible to skip the data enrichment process altogether and use an existing risk index, such as the Center for Disease Control's Social Vulnerability Index. The following describe how to accomplish these workflows so that you can tailor the Solution's results to local, pertinent conditions and get vaccines and resources to where they are needed the most.

Focus on specific priority populations

By default, the Vaccine Coverage Analysis solution counts all vaccine records to calculate a vaccination rate, regardless of race, ethnicity, or age. We know, however, that these factors are playing a part in vaccine distribution equity. If race, ethnicity, and age information has been collected at the time of vaccination, use the following steps to evaluate the vaccination rate of the priority populations you are interested in.

1. Open the Prepare vaccination and priority population data task and complete steps 1-3 as directed.
2. Complete step 4, Prepare vaccination data, then select the Map tab on the ribbon.
3. Click Select by Attributes in the Selection section.
4. Confirm that VaccinationPoints are selected as the Input Rows.
5. Click New Expression and use the Query Builder to create an expression that will select the population you are interested in.
6. Once the records are selected, complete step 5, Add vaccination counts to boundaries
7. In step 6, Add population totals to boundaries, adjust the Variables to reflect the population you are interested in. Leave the 2020 Population Age 18+, as it is used for other parts of the analysis.
8. In step 7, Calculate vaccination rate, adjust the Total Population input to reflect the population you are interested in. This should be the variable you enriched in the last step. Enter all other inputs as described in the task and run the tool. The resulting layer will reflect vaccination rates for the population you are interested in.
   

   9. In step 8, Find priority populations, select the population you are interested in as a Risk Factor. Enter all other inputs as described in the task and run the tool. The resulting layer will reflect the locations of the population you are interested in.

Use the Social Vulnerability Index to find priority populations that are socially vulnerable.

The Social Vulnerability Index is map created by the CDC that uses U.S. Census Data to determine social vulnerability for counties and census tracts in the US. It ranks each county and census tract according to 15 different social factors, which determine it's overall social vulnerability. The Vaccine Coverage Analysis solution creates a similar type of index to locate priority populations, but it uses data enrichment to do so. And it is pre-configured to create an index of COVID-19 at-risk populations. If a more general analysis is needed or data enrichment is not an option, the Social Vulnerability Index can be used instead. Use the following workflow to use the Social Vulnerability Index to identify where priority populations are located.

1. Open the “Prepare vaccination and priority population” task and complete steps 1-5
2. In step 6, Add population totals to boundaries, leave the 2020 Population Age 18+ variable, but remove all others. The SVI ranking will stand in for the variables that have been removed. Run the tool.
3. Complete step 7, Calculate vaccination rate.
4. Skip step 8, Find priority populations.
5. Click Add Data and search for SVI in the Living Atlas. Add the Overall SVI to the map. The SVI is available in counties and census tracts. Pick the one that is most appropriate for your analysis. If you are doing an analysis on counties, pick the Overall SVI – Counties. If you are doing an analysis on a smaller geography, pick the Overall SVI – Tracts layer.
6. Search for and open the Summarize Within tool. Enter VaccinationRate as the Input Polygons. Enter the SVI layer the Input Summary Features. In the Output Feature Class, enter “PriorityPopulations”. In Summary Fields, click the dropdown and select “Overall Percentile Ranking” as the Field and select Mean as statistic. Click Run.

   Note: the Mean statistic in the Summarize Within tool is calculated using a ratio policy, where the proportion of area that intersects with the inputs is used to weight each value. The equation used to calculate the mean can be found here

7. Right-click on the PriorityPopulations layer and select Symbology. In the symbology pane, select Graduated Colors as the Primary symbology. Set the field to MEAN RPL_THEMES and Method to Quantile. Specify 5 Classes and select the Blues 5 Classes Color Scheme. The resulting layer will show areas of high social vulnerability in dark blue with areas of low social vulnerability in light blue.
8. Finish the Prepare vaccination and priority population task.
9. Open the Create coverage map task.
10. In step 1, Find underserved populations, disregard the task instructions and enter the following parameters in the Find Underserved Areas tool. For Input Features, select PriorityPopulations. For Risk Factors (High to Low), click the drop down and select “MEAN RPL_THEMES”. For Risk Factors (Low to High), click the drop down and select “VaccinationRate.” Enter “UnderservedPopulations” for Output Risk. The resulting layer will display underserved populations using the SVI.

For more information on the Vaccine Coverage Analysis solution and other ArcGIS Solutions, visit the ArcGIS Solutions website.