We are now examining communities with a higher mortality rate and whether or not these communities are receiving the vaccine.
SEE ALSO: Houston area residents ‘suffering’ in low-income and minority areas without vaccines
Our investigation found that a dozen zip codes east of downtown Houston have a higher death rate of 151 deaths per 100,000 residents, but the overall vaccination rate for these communities is 4.5%.
We wanted to look at where the vaccines are going and found 40% of Harris County zip codes where the death rate is not that high – with less than 150 deaths per 100,000 residents – and there is still a higher percentage of the population that is vaccinated. The disparities are why doctors and clinics are defending vaccination program leaders to get vaccines to reach neighborhoods instead of mass vaccination sites.
“We need them here. We have the people who are dying of COVID, the Hispanic population, the African Americans, the low-income people and few resources are here in Harris’ health. We need them here, ”said Glorimar Medina, the executive vice president of Harris Health System outpatient care services, last month.
INTERACTIVE: Want to know which communities have a higher mortality rate, but less people vaccinated? Explore the map for details divided by postal code. On the mobile device? Click here for a full screen experience.
Dr. Erica Villalobos, a doctor at the HOPE Clinic Aldine, said in her neighborhood that residents sometimes do not have access to transportation, internet or other resources needed to sign up for a vaccine and receive a dose.
“The risk of continuing without access to the vaccine is even greater the risk of becoming infected with COVID and succumbing to serious complications associated with COVID, including death,” she said.
In postal code 77039 where your clinic is located, the mortality rate is 109.2 deaths per 100,000 residents and only 2.7% of residents were vaccinated, according to an analysis of city data.
There are more than 28,000 residents who live in that neighborhood, but only 600 vaccines have been distributed since the state began distributing them nine weeks ago. The HOPE Aldine Clinic has been approved by the state to provide the vaccine, but has yet to receive a dose.
“We all want what is best for the community, and what is best for the community now is to be able to vaccinate,” said Villalobos.
Across the county, 3,081 residents died from COVID-19. The city and county provide information on the number of deaths in each CEP on a daily basis.
Postal code-level vaccination data for Houston and Harris County is not available on the city or county website. The most recent data we received on the number of residents vaccinated in each postal code was current as of February 4, 2021.
The data delay provides some limitations for our analysis. As of this week, 351,391 Harris County residents have received at least one dose of the vaccine and 126,632 are fully vaccinated.
We received only data on how many people were vaccinated by postal code for 67% of vaccinated residents in Harris County.
The state said it would like the agencies to collect better vaccination data. For example, the race and ethnicity data for 40% of Texas residents who received the vaccine are unknown. It is somewhat in Harris County, where race and ethnicity are unknown to only 28% of vaccinated residents.
“[It] makes it difficult to know whether entities are really reaching these communities, “said Dr. David Lakey, a member of the Texas Expert Vaccine Allocation Panel.
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