Scarcity in Crises: Access Disparities to COVID-19 Vaccines Among Natives, Migrants and Refugees in Germany

Abstract

"This paper investigates disparities in the timing of COVID-19 vaccination uptake among natives, migrants and refugees in Germany. Using data from the representative and nation-wide RKI-SOEP-2 survey and employing Kaplan-Meier survival analysis, Cox proportional hazard models and an Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition, the study reveals a significant temporal gap and its underlying mechanisms. Natives received their vaccination earlier than migrants and those in turn earlier than refugees. Confirming fundamental cause theory, key flexible resources such as income, language skills, social networks and access to transportation, are found to significantly influence vaccination timing and explain parts of the gap in vaccinating timing between natives, migrants and refugees. A smaller proportion, on the other hand, is explained by personal vaccination intentions and differences in receiving prioritized access, confirming the need to focus more on structural barriers instead of vaccine hesitancy alone. The paper highlights how structural disadvantages can have direct public health implications. The results stress that – beyond the health crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic – ensuring fair access to any scarce resource is essential to prevent existing social inequalities from translating into health disparities during crises." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Cite article

Goßner, L. (2025): Scarcity in Crises: Access Disparities to COVID-19 Vaccines Among Natives, Migrants and Refugees in Germany. (SocArXiv papers), 34 p. DOI:10.31219/osf.io/8phn5_v1