Delayed access to Covid-19 vaccination among migrants in Spain during 2021

An electronic health records-based study

Bibliographic Data

ID23312461
AuthorsJhosy Canedo (Bellvitge University Hospital), Sandra Campos (0000-0003-0034-7808, Instituto de Salud Carlos III), Sophie Campman (GGD Amsterdam), Carmen Olmedo (Ministry of Health), Olivier Núñez (0000-0002-6651-8879, Instituto de Salud Carlos III), Susana Monge (0000-0003-1412-3012, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, corresponding author)
Year2026
Volume14
Pages100430
Publication date2026-07-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Migration and Health (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2666-6235 • E-ISSN: 2666-6235
PublisherElsevier BV (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1016/j.jmh.2026.100430
PMID42572572
OpenAlexW7170166033
LanguageEN
References cited29

Background In Spain, COVID-19 vaccination started on 27 December 2020, prioritizing people in long-term care facilities (LTCF), the elderly, and healthcare and essential workers. Different barriers to vaccination might have decreased or delayed uptake for migrant populations. We assessed the time to first COVID-19 vaccination by country of birth. Methods We studied ≥12-year-olds registered within the Spanish healthcare administrative database between 27 December 2020 and 31 December 2021, not living in LTCF, with information on country of birth, and at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose. Using Weibull parametric survival models, we compared time to first vaccination between Spanish-born individuals and those born in: Western countries (WC), Eastern Europe (EE), North Africa and the Middle East (NAME), Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), South-East Asia (SEA), Central America and the Caribbean (CAC), or South America (SA); adjusting for sex, age, priority vaccination group and region. Results We included 26,720,450 individuals (Spanish-born: 86.1%; WC: 3.5%; EE: 0.4%; SSA: 0.6%; NAME: 2.1%; SEA: 0.6%; CAC: 1.4%; SA: 5.3%). Hazard Ratio for first vaccination was lower for all migrants’ groups, WC: 0.68, EE: 0.45, SSA: 0.49, NAME: 0.56, SEA: 0.64, CAC: 0.65 and SA: 0.74, and median time to vaccination (days) was higher, WC: 164, EE: 185, SSA: 181, NAME: 174, SEA: 167, CAC: 166 and SA: 160, compared to 147 in Spaniards. Conclusions Migrants of any origin living in Spain accessed COVID-19 vaccination later than Spanish-born individuals. These findings highlight existing barriers increasing migrants’ vulnerability during the pandemic and call for additional efforts to ensure equitable access.

Health care · Health services · Population · Public health · Vaccination · COVID-19 Digital Contact Tracing · Migration, Health and Trauma · Vaccine Coverage and Hesitancy

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