For VA, where veterans live is a bigger factor in refusing the COVID vaccine than race

Veterans Affairs officials said they are seeing some groups of veterans refuse opportunities to get the coronavirus vaccine, but it is not necessarily the individuals they expected to have trouble convincing.

“In black communities, we are actually exceeding what we are in the white population of America,” said Dr. Richard Stone, acting head of the Veterans Health Administration, in testimony before the House Appropriations Committee on Friday. “I am very pleased with the way that black and Hispanic veterans are accepting the vaccine.”

For months, health officials have warned that convincing minority groups across the country to obtain the double coronavirus vaccine can pose a special challenge. A recent report by the University of Minnesota’s Infectious Disease Research and Policy Center, which seeks to find out why blacks are less likely to get the vaccine, found that several factors contributed to fueling the lack of confidence.

“Between the mistrust, misinformation and management of COVID that did not always protect the most vulnerable (think of unjust testing allocations and vaccination sites), how surprising is it that black communities have less acceptance of the vaccine?” the study authors asked. A December Associated Press survey found that only 24% of black Americans and 34% of Hispanic Americans planned to receive the vaccine, as opposed to 53% of white Americans.

But Stone said that luckily VA did not see this predicted problem. Instead, the groups most reluctant to work so far appear to be rural veterans, who may already face significant challenges with access to health care and vaccine availability.

“In one area of ​​New York alone, more than 1,000 veterans over the age of 75 said ‘no thanks’. And that surprised us, ”he said.

Kameron Matthews, VA’s assistant undersecretary of health, said the authorities have started gathering focus groups on the reasons behind the vaccine’s hesitation because “our rural populations in all age groups are showing differences that we definitely need to resolve”.

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The department has administered nearly 2 million doses of vaccine since mid-December. In some locations, almost all VA staff and high-risk veteran patients have already completed the two-dose regimen.

But Stone said bringing vaccines to veterans in rural areas remains a “Herculean effort”, especially considering that early versions of the vaccine require super-cooled temperatures for storage.

“This has been difficult,” he said. “” We are not doing as well with rural veterans and reaching them as we would like. “

Members of Congress speculated that the issue of low vaccine acceptance in rural areas may not have to do with mistrust, but rather with travel issues.

Even with mobile veteran centers helping to push the total VA to more than 300 distribution locations across the country, reaching a vaccine appointment can still be an hour journey for veterans, many of whom are elderly.

Stone promised more research and improvements in the coming weeks. The department expects to distribute vaccines to nearly 7 million people in the coming months, covering almost all veterans who are active users of VA health services.

However, lawmakers have expressed concern that other veterans who do not regularly use VA medical care, but do not have access to vaccines elsewhere, may not know what to do. Stone said that decisions on this will be left to the availability of the vaccine.

“Our ability to reach this veteran population is entirely based on supply,” he said. “Our desire to bring the vaccine to as many veterans as possible.”

More than 220,000 patients screened for VA have contracted coronavirus in the past 11 months and more than 10,100 have died of virus-related complications.