Table 2.
COVID-19 vaccine indicators by education level: median national prevalence, disaggregated estimates, and crude and adjusted SII, globally and by country income group
| Number of countries | Median national prevalence (95% CI) |
Median disaggregated data (95% CI) |
Median SII, percentage points (95% CI) |
|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No or primary education | Secondary education | Higher education | Unadjusted | Adjusted | Adjusted2 | |||
| Self-reported receipt of COVID-19 vaccine | ||||||||
| Global | 90 | 75·2% (72·1–79·8) | 67·7% (60·0–73·0) | 71·4% (67·4–76·1) | 79·1% (75·6–82·4) | 16·4 (13·4 to 19·3) | 11·3 (9·1 to 12·7) | 11·9 (10·2 to 13·4) |
| High-income countries | 33 | 86·0% (81·6–87·5) | 81·0% (78·3–87·1) | 83·8% (78·8–86·0) | 87·4% (83·4–89·0) | 10·3 (7·3 to 12·2) | 6·9 (5·6 to 8·7) | 6·9 (6·0 to 8·3) |
| Upper-middle-income countries | 29 | 71·5% (65·6–77·9) | 57·6% (52·5–72·3) | 66·7% (58·8–73·9) | 75·5% (68·1–82·1) | 21·4 (17·3 to 24·5) | 14·3 (11·9 to 16·7) | 14·5 (12·9 to 17·1) |
| Low-income and lower-middle-income countries | 28 | 58·1% (51·0–73·0) | 50·7% (41·8–59·6) | 51·2% (41·9–67·0) | 63·9% (53·0–75·6) | 19·5 (14·2 to 26·6) | 13·9 (9·3 to 16·8) | 13·3 (11·1 to 18·1) |
| Experienced structural barrier to vaccination | ||||||||
| Global | 90 | 23·9% (20·4–27·4) | 25·3% (21·8–28·5) | 23·6% (19·6–26·6) | 23·1% (20·2–25·7) | −3·7 (−6·4 to −1·5) | 3·8 (2·6 to 4·7) | 3·6 (2·4 to 5·4) |
| High-income countries | 33 | 15·0% (14·1–17·1) | 12·6% (11·6–14·0) | 13·5% (12·5–15·1) | 16·9% (15·4–19·8) | 2·2 (0·2 to 4·8) | 4·8 (3·6 to 8·6) | 5·3 (3·4 to 9·0) |
| Upper-middle-income countries | 29 | 24·0% (21·5–29·9) | 27·0% (22·5–31·2) | 23·6% (21·3–30·0) | 23·4% (21·5–27·3) | −5·5 (−8·5 to −3·5) | 3·7 (2·0 to 7·5) | 3·1 (1·2 to 6·3) |
| Low-income and lower-middle-income countries | 28 | 34·6% (29·3–38·9) | 38·3% (32·9–45·5) | 33·5% (28·3–40·5) | 34·1% (28·3–38·1) | −8·3 (−11·0 to −6·5) | 0·5 (−1·3 to 4·6) | 1·1 (−1·4 to 6·6) |
| Vaccine hesitancy (unvaccinated people) | ||||||||
| Global | 90 | 39·9% (37·0–41·7) | 38·7% (37·3–40·1) | 41·1% (39·0–43·0) | 38·2% (35·7–41·7) | −4·1 (−6·0 to −1·0) | −4·6 (−7·0 to −3·3) | −3·8 (−6·4 to −1·4) |
| High-income countries | 33 | 34·9% (33·7–37·7) | 38·8% (35·5–41·4) | 39·1% (34·8–42·4) | 33·1% (31·4–36·2) | −7·0 (−8·2 to −2·8) | −6·7 (−9·5 to −4·0) | −6·4 (−10·5 to −2·3) |
| Upper-middle-income countries | 29 | 41·7% (37·7–44·8) | 39·2% (37·1–41·2) | 43·5% (40·3–45·2) | 40·7% (34·7–44·6) | −5·7 (−9·6 to 0·6) | −4·9 (−9·6 to −1·8) | −4·9 (−8·6 to −0·2) |
| Low-income and lower-middle-income countries | 28 | 41·4% (39·2–46·5) | 37·8% (32·5–41·6) | 40·9% (38·3–44·0) | 44·0% (40·2–46·8) | 1·2 (−2·8 to 7·0) | 2·1 (−4·4 to 5·3) | 1·8 (−4·5 to 7·5) |
| Vaccine refusal (unvaccinated people) | ||||||||
| Global | 90 | 28·8% (24·5–37·2) | 27·4% (23·8–38·0) | 26·7% (20·0–36·3) | 28·3% (24·3–37·6) | 6·0 (4·4 to 8·0) | 4·0 (2·5 to 6·3) | 2·5 (1·4 to 4·8) |
| High-income countries | 33 | 47·4% (39·0–59·1) | 42·8% (31·2–49·0) | 46·9% (37·0–57·4) | 50·7% (40·5–60·7) | 8·5 (6·0 to 12·4) | 9·6 (5·7 to 10·7) | 8·1 (3·1 to 10·1) |
| Upper-middle-income countries | 29 | 27·3% (22·5–33·6) | 24·9% (17·4–35·0) | 24·3% (14·1–34·7) | 27·7% (21·5–34·2) | 6·0 (3·2 to 10·7) | 2·9 (−0·0 to 7·3) | 1·5 (−0·1 to 5·7) |
| Low-income and lower-middle-income countries | 28 | 18·5% (15·1–24·2) | 19·5% (16·1–24·7) | 17·3% (12·9–21·9) | 17·5% (14·8–24·2) | 2·2 (−0·9 to 5·0) | 1·0 (−1·6 to 3·1) | −0·3 (−2·0 to 1·9) |
Medians are based on countries with sample sizes of at least 100 in each education subgroup. Disaggregated data estimates excluded countries with insufficient sample size; estimates based on 87 countries for experienced structural barrier (28 upper-middle-income countries and 26 low-income and lower-middle-income countries) and 86 countries for vaccine hesitancy and vaccine refusal (31 high-income and 26 low-income and lower-middle-income countries). SII of 0 indicates no inequality; SII above 0 denotes higher indicator prevalence among people with more education, and SII below 0 denotes higher indicator prevalence among people with less education. The first adjusted model (adjusted) controlled for individual sociodemographic characteristics (age, gender, place of residence, and household overcrowding). The second adjusted model (adjusted2) controlled for these characteristics plus the presence of health risk factors and COVID-19-like symptoms. SII=slope index of inequality.