Chapter 1 provides an overview of the COVID-19 pandemic’s disproportionate impact on vulnerable and disadvantaged communities and briefly explains why this was the case. It identifies communities that were among those who were so affected. The chapter explains why the book focuses on the United States with comparative data from other countries that it reflects the greater availability of disaggregated data from this country and its deep income and health inequalities which made many disadvantaged groups particularly vulnerable to the impact of the pandemic. It briefly introduces the vulnerable communities which will be highlighted in the book: children, older adults, women, people of color, and the incarcerated population. The chapter also references relevant public health ethical and human rights standards to assess the situation of disadvantaged communities and the obligations of governments. It additionally underscores the importance of evaluating the policies governments adopted, specifically whether the policies took the situation of various disadvantaged groups into account and sought to reduce the deleterious impact of the pandemic on them.