Jennifer Attonito on Lessons Learned from the COVID-19 Vaccine Rollout In Florida

The availability of pharmacist-administered vaccination has grown in recent decades. Proximity to a pharmacy has found to be predictive of vaccine use.

In Florida, Publix grocery stores were the first retail pharmacies to provide COVID-19 vaccinations to eligible members of the public. For more than a month after the initial rollout, Publix remained the sole retail pharmacy authorized to administer COVID-19 vaccines.

Grocery stores seem like a natural place to reach a large share of the population, but grocery stores are not located evenly throughout communities.

Jennifer Attonito, an instructor of health administration from Florida Atlantic University, joins A Health Podyssey to discuss disparities in access to COVID-19 vaccines during the initial vaccine rollout in Florida.

Attonito and co-authors published a paper in the December 2021 issue of Health Affairs that analyzed the locations of Publix stores in Florida. They found that the Publix locations don't always line up with where the needs are greatest.

Listen to Health Affairs Editor-in-Chief Alan Weil interview Jennifer Attonito on her research, its implications in the context of broader vaccine disparities, and health equity.

If you enjoyed this interview, order the December 2021 Health Affairs issue.

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