Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment

STATEWIDE (Jan. 3, 2022) — Today, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment released a report that helps public health officials better understand and serve Coloradans when getting the COVID-19 vaccine. CDPHE designed the study with guidance from the Colorado School of Public Health to help our vaccine team understand how they can help eliminate disparities and ensure that all Coloradans have access to these life saving vaccines.  Specifically, CDPHE worked with Colorado School of Public Health to determine the modeling method that would allow a deeper understanding of the portion of vaccinated Coloradans who chose “other” or did not select a racial or ethnic option. 

The Colorado Immunization Information System (CIIS) is an essential tool in helping the state track COVID-19 vaccination rates, however it has about 9.8% of total records who are unidentified in terms of race or ethnicity. 

“Our aim with this study is to have the most complete picture possible of the vaccination data so we can tailor our strategies accordingly,” said Tara Trujillo, CDPHE deputy executive director who led the vaccine campaign over the summer and into the fall. “As the pandemic continues, and enthusiasm about vaccination reduces over time, this analysis gives us a better sense of how our vaccine outreach efforts have been working, while also showing us what additional work we have to do to reach historically underserved communities.” 

The report’s findings are incredibly important because vaccines remain the best available public health measure to protect people from COVID-19, slow transmission, and reduce the likelihood of new variants emerging. CDPHE plans to add this modeling data to the vaccine data dashboard this month. 

Continue to stay up to date by visiting covid19.colorado.gov.