Black, Latino and Native American seniors in Los Angeles County are receiving COVID-19 vaccines at a lower rate than white, Asian and Pacific Island seniors, according to data released on Monday.
The findings raised new concerns about inequality in the problematic distribution of vaccines for people aged 65 and over and increased pressure on county leaders to do a better job of immunizing communities of color.
Only 7% of black residents aged 65 and older received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, the lowest percentage of any racial and ethnic group and less than half the comparable figure for elderly white residents. About 9% of elderly Native Americans and 14% of elderly Latinos received at least one dose.
In contrast, 17% of elderly white residents received at least one injection, as did 18% of Asian Americans and 29% of elderly Hawaiian / Pacific Islanders.
LA County seniors who were not part of the previous priority groups of health professionals and residents of long-term care facilities became eligible to receive COVID-19 vaccines as of January 20.
More than 1 million doses have been cumulatively administered in LA County.
“We are alarmed at the disproportionality we are seeing in those who received the vaccine,” said LA County public health director Barbara Ferrer, who expressed particular concern about the “flagrant inadequacy in launching the vaccine so far” for black residents .
“This new data shows us that we need to make it much easier for Native American, black and Latino residents and workers to be vaccinated in their communities by trusted providers,” said Ferrer on Monday. “This is one of the Department of Public Health’s top priorities. And we will continue to work with our community partners to ensure that we are not just vaccinating everyone quickly, but addressing the need to provide easier access to neighborhood locations and better access to accurate vaccine information. “
Ferrer said the county is committed to increasing the number of vaccination sites in the most affected areas. In all, there are 365 sites offering vaccines this week. Ten sites were added for Eastside and South LA, bringing the total number of sites in these areas to 14 and 35, respectively.
Ferrer said the county is also organizing mobile teams to start bringing vaccines next week to residents of retirement homes and senior care centers in the most affected areas.
“We will also have community health workers in highly impacted communities, who can sometimes go block by block to provide residents with information on how to get vaccinated, help them sign up and dispel myths and misinformation about the vaccine,” said Ferrer.
The disparity between those receiving vaccines is not limited to LA County. In Northern California’s most populous county, Santa Clara, 18% of elderly Latinos and blacks received at least one dose, while 28% of white elderly and 40% of elderly Asian Americans received at least one.
LA County supervisor Hilda Solis noted that the racial and ethnic groups that suffered the most in terms of coronavirus cases, hospitalizations and deaths are receiving fewer vaccines.
“This is completely unacceptable. And we will share some of these changes in our vaccine launch in the coming days to ensure that it is truly equitable, ”she said. “Frankly, I am disappointed and I am asking all of us, our departments and medical providers, to fulfill their responsibility to ensure that the vaccine reaches those who need it most.”
Although LA, like elsewhere in the state, is challenged by the simple fact that there is not enough vaccine flowing, Solis said the county is looking to step up its efforts to ensure that available doses are distributed equitably.
Among these strategies is the deployment of mobile vaccination teams in homes of the elderly or administered by the government, as well as in homeless camps “and other places where people do not have easy access to transportation”, to ensure that eligible Angelenos do not left behind, according to Solis. .
“These are some of the first mobile units to be deployed in LA County, and we believe that this model will help resolve the issue of mobility and access as soon as we increase these teams,” she said.
Although the county runs several large-scale sites that can vaccinate thousands of people a day, officials are looking to establish support points everywhere, so people can get vaccines closer to home.
“The goal is, in fact, to have vaccination sites everywhere, from schools to local community centers and trusted service providers based on people’s neighborhoods,” said Solis. “Supply remains our biggest challenge, and refrigerated storage logistics and the short lifespan of these vaccines are also obstacles in our mass vaccination campaign.”
Officials are hopeful that their equity promotion efforts will get a boost with the opening of a federal mass vaccination site in Cal State LA, which Solis said should be up and running on February 16.
“Equity is not just a buzzword,” said Solis. “It must be a central principle for the way we make policies and deliver our services.”
Solis said in a statement released on Monday afternoon that another tactic the county could employ is “potentially reserving vaccine appointments to ensure that those who need it most receive a dose sooner or later. Information and instructions on how to schedule a vaccination appointment, of course, did not reach those who need it most. ”
To address some of the injustices that residents face when being vaccinated, Solis will present a motion on Tuesday to the Board of Supervisors asking them to consider redirecting bus services to provide more direct access to major county vaccination sites.
“Until the COVID-19 vaccine is available in all neighborhoods, there are significant inequities, such as access to transportation, that must be addressed,” said Solis in the motion.
Supervisor Holly Mitchell, whose district includes a large percentage of black Los Angeles residents, said the county has significantly less vaccine than it needs and that delivering that small number of doses has been further complicated by the state’s hierarchical system.
“There is nothing about this damn virus that is simple,” Mitchell said in an interview.
Mitchell said that she and other black leaders have emphasized to black residents the importance of getting vaccinated, “saying, ‘When you get on the list, whatever your category, get vaccinated’, to really try to overcome the fear of many black people , frankly, have on the health care system. “
The six new vaccination sites at local and local Rite-Aid clinics in southern Los Angeles are an attempt to bring vaccines to where people live.
“The importance of being in the community in this environment is that we are asking them to look for a preexisting trusted community resource,” she said.
But even when the county creates more locations, it cannot make significant progress without more supplies.
“We need to make the product capable of doing this,” said Mitchell. “We built the facilities for that. We make sure that areas that may not naturally have pharmacies have other entities that can stand up to provide the vaccine. Great, we’ve done it all – now we need the vaccine. “
Councilor Marqueece Harris-Dawson, who represents southern Los Angeles, criticized the way vaccines were distributed. At a recent town hall meeting, he expressed concern about the government’s initial strategy of sending vaccines to large sites like the Forum in Inglewood. He said that its constituents “do not go anywhere with large crowds” and criticized the demographic composition of those receiving photos at the site as not representative of the neighboring community.
Large vaccination sites “tend to reinforce some of the inequalities that the pandemic has exposed,” said Harris-Dawson. He suggested forwarding vaccines to health professionals who have a long history of trust with neighboring residents. Two weeks ago, Harris-Dawson requested at a City Council meeting that city officials were ready to deploy mobile units.
Last week, LA Mayor Eric Garcetti said the city had established a program to “bring mobile vaccination clinics to communities that have suffered the highest COVID-19 disease and death rate”. He said the program started in the Harris-Dawson district, delivering “vaccines directly to the community, for those elderly people who need to get the vaccine, but cannot necessarily walk or drive to a vaccination center”.
Latin and black residents were disproportionately affected by the pandemic. In LA County, Latinos are seeing 40 deaths per 100,000 residents a day; for black residents, the number is 20, and for American residents of Asian origin, 17. There are 14 deaths per 100,000 white residents per day.
Councilman Kevin de León said the data is not shocking because people of color face several barriers to vaccinating. He said officials should focus on communities with the highest mortality rates.
It is “challenging” that residents living in areas with low infection rates can go to those with high rates and be vaccinated, said De León. “If there is a house on fire in the neighborhood, you run to put water in that house. Not in the other houses that are not burning. And this is how they are doing it. “