A new Kaiser Family Foundation analysis looks at potential vaccination challenges by examining demographic characteristics of the 15.5 million health and long-term care workers who are estimated to have direct patient contact. These workers are included in the initial vaccination priority group and may be most at risk of patient contact with someone with the virus.
To assess key characteristics of health and long-term care workers, Kaiser Family Foundation analyzed data from the U.S. Census Bureau's 2019 American Community Survey on race/ethnicity, income level, age, gender, education, citizenship status, and health insurance coverage status.
Six findings on the 15.5 million workers, 37 percent of whom work in hospitals and 25 percent of whom work in long-term care facilities.
1. Most of the workers are white (59 percent) and citizens (95 percent).
2. Fifty-two percent of the workers in long-term care settings are people of color.
3. A majority (77 percent) of the workers are women.
4. Seventeen percent of the workers are considered low-income (household income less than 200 percent of the federal poverty level).
5. Seven percent of the workers overall — and 14 percent of workers in long-term care — are uninsured.
6. Forty-five percent of the workers earned a bachelor's degree or higher.
Read more about the analysis here.