Metro Partnership Releases Regional Mapping Tool for Targeting Vaccine Activities

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

March 19, 2021

The Metro Denver Partnership for Health (MDPH) on Friday announced the availability of a new mapping tool that allows users to track vaccination rates in metro Denver communities at the census-tract and ZIP-code levels. The interactive maps will be updated weekly based on data from the Colorado Immunization Information System.

“It is critical that efforts to operationalize equity in our immunization distribution processes are based in solid data,” said John M. Douglas, Jr., MD, Executive Director of Tri-County Health Department and co-chair of MDPH. “We are collaborating with our health care partners to use this information to target outreach clinics and other vaccination uptake efforts and thereby ensure that all people have equal access to the COVID-19 vaccination.”

MDPH, a coalition led by metro area local public health agencies, has been a leader in advocating for vaccine equity in the region. The release of the data mapping tool follows its recent guidance on operationalizing equity in COVID-19 vaccine efforts.

The maps are stratified by age group, allowing users to quickly see the percentage of people in each group who have been vaccinated. The data illustrate significant differences in vaccination rates between communities and across the metro region.

“These data can guide our efforts so that vaccines are reaching underserved communities and those at greatest risk for infection,” said Jason Vahling, Director of Broomfield Public Health and MDPH co-chair. “Responding to and addressing these inequities regionally improves health and recovery of all our communities.”

MDPH and its partners plan to use the data highlighted in the maps to target vaccination clinics and outreach as well as work with Community Ambassadors to engage communities with trusted partners and organizations to address vaccine hesitancy and promote accessible registration and scheduling.

The vaccine maps are available at http://colo.health/vaxmap.

MDPH is led by six public health agencies serving the seven-county Denver metro area: Boulder County Public Health, Broomfield Public Health Department, Denver Department of Public Health & Environment, Denver Public Health, Jefferson County Public Health, and Tri-County Health Department, serving Adams, Arapahoe, and Douglas counties. MDPH’s work impacts more than three million Coloradans — nearly 60% of the state’s population — who live in this region. MDPH is supported and staffed by the Colorado Health Institute (CHI). More information can be found at https://colo.health/MDPH.

Contact for the Colorado Health Institute: Kristi Arellano, Managing Director of Marketing and Communications | arellanok@coloradohealthinstitute.org | 720.382.7080