COVID-19 vaccination among immigrants from Europe and in their countries of birth

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Vaccination coverage for COVID-19 varies among immigrant groups in Norway and between different countries. Most likely, childhood/adolescence and consistent contact with the country of birth help form the attitudes to and the desire for vaccination. We therefore compared the vaccination rate among European-born immigrants in Norway and the vaccination coverage in their countries of birth.MATERIAL AND METHOD: Vaccination coverage, the percentage of the adult population that had received at least one vaccination dose, for 22 European countries with universal access to vaccines by 31August 2021 was retrieved from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and from the Norwegian emergency preparedness register for COVID-19 for the equivalent immigrant groups in Norway on 30September 2021. Scatter plots with least-squares regression lines showed the association between the vaccination coverage in the country of birth and the rate in the equivalent immigration group in Norway, in total and by time of residence in Norway (< 6 years and ≥6 years).RESULT: The model estimated an increase in the vaccination rate in immigrant groups in Norway of 0.64 percentage points for each percentage point increase in the vaccination coverage in their European countries of birth, and explained 63% of the variation in the vaccination rate in the immigrant groups. There was no statistically significant difference in the co-variation with the country of birth when comparing immigrants with short versus long time of residence.INTERPRETATION: There is a correlation between the vaccination rate for COVID-19 among European-born immigrants in Norway and the coverage in their countries of birth. Attitudes to and desire for vaccination varies between countries and can explain part of the observed differences between immigrant groups in Norway.