Abstract
OBJECTIVES: Homebound patients are older and suffer from multiple comorbidities, and many experienced difficulties getting vaccinated because of their inability to routinely leave the home due to health and function. Home-based primary care (HBPC) programs offer vaccination at home to reach this high-risk population. We evaluated an urban HBPC program's COVID-19 vaccination campaign to explore whether home-based vaccination can reduce inequity in vaccine administration or improve vaccine efforts. DESIGN: We conducted a cross-sectional study to examine characteristics of homebound patients who were vaccinated through an HBPC program or were vaccinated elsewhere. SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: We analyzed 795 patients enrolled in the HBPC program who were eligible for vaccination at home in 2021. METHODS: We collected vaccination data from patients, demographic data from the electronic medical record, and neighborhood-level characteristics for each patient based on census tract. RESULTS: Homebound patients vaccinated by HBPC were significantly more likely than homebound patients vaccinated outside of the program to have a history of dementia (P = .003), live in public housing (P < .001), have Medicaid (P = .005), be enrolled in HBPC for longer (P = .03), and live in neighborhoods with higher proportions of immigrants (P = .022), lower English proficiency (P = .007), lower computer usage (P = .001), and greater poverty (P < .001). CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS: Home-based vaccination campaigns may help lower-resourced patients get vaccinated by mitigating logistic barriers and using the influence of trusted patient-provider relationships established through HBPCs.