A racial gap has opened up in the country’s COVID-19 vaccination campaign, with black Americans in many places lagging behind whites in receiving vaccines, shows an analysis by the Associated Press.
An initial analysis of the 17 states and two cities that released racial analyzes by January 25 found that blacks everywhere are being vaccinated at levels below their share of the general population, in some cases significantly below.
This is true, although they make up an excessive percentage of the country’s health workers, who were put on the front lines when the campaign started in mid-December.
For example, in North Carolina, blacks make up 22% of the population and 26% of the health workforce, but only 11% of those vaccinated so far. Whites, a category in which the state includes both Hispanic and non-Hispanic whites, are 68% of the population and 82% of those vaccinated.
The gap is deeply worrying for some, given that the coronavirus has had a disproportionate impact on serious illness and death in blacks in the United States, where the scourge has killed more than 430,000 Americans. Black, Hispanic and Native American people are dying of COVID-19 at nearly three times the rate of white people, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“We will see an increase and exacerbation of racial health inequalities that existed before the pandemic and worsened during the pandemic if our communities could not access the vaccine,” said Dr. Uché Blackstock, New York emergency physician and CEO of Advancing Health Equity, a advocacy group that deals with prejudice and inequality.
Experts say several factors may be driving the emerging disparity, including deep distrust in the medical establishment among black Americans due to a history of discriminatory treatment; inadequate access to the vaccine in black neighborhoods; and a digital divide that can make it difficult to obtain crucial information. Vaccination registrations are being made largely online.
“It’s frustrating and challenging,” said Dr. Michelle Fiscus, who runs Tennessee’s vaccination program, which is doubling the doses sent to some hard-hit rural counties, but is facing deep-seated mistrust among some blacks in Tenness.
“We have to work hard to rebuild that trust and get these people vaccinated,” said Fiscus. “They are dying. They are being hospitalized. “
Hispanics also lagged behind in vaccinations, but their levels were a little closer to expectations in most places studied. Hispanics, on average, are younger than other Americans, and vaccines have not yet been opened to young people.
However, several states where Hispanic communities have been hit particularly hard by COVID-19 have yet to report data, mainly California and New York.
President Joe Biden is trying to bring more equity to the implementation of the vaccine he inherited from the Trump administration. The Biden government is encouraging states to map and target vulnerable neighborhoods using tools such as the CDC’s social vulnerability index, which incorporates data on race, poverty, crowded housing and other factors.
“We are going to take extra steps to reach the most difficult people to reach, and that work is happening now,” said Dr. Marcella Nunez-Smith, chairman of Biden’s COVID-19 stock task force.
Most states have not yet released racial data on who was vaccinated. Even in the states that provided damage, the data is often incomplete, with many records missing details about the breed. However, the missing information would not be enough to change the overall picture in most cases.
The data came from Alaska, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Indiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Nebraska, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia and West Virginia, as well as two cities, Philadelphia and Chicago .
The AP analysis found that whites are being vaccinated at levels close to or higher than expected in most states examined.
In the beginning, healthcare professionals and nursing home residents generally had priority for injections in the United States
In recent weeks, many states have opened eligibility for a broader group of older people and more frontline workers, which could be further depressing the relative proportion of black people vaccinated. The population over 65 is whiter than in other age groups.
Among the findings:
– In Maryland, blacks represent 30% of the population and 40% of the health industry, but they represent only 16% of people vaccinated so far. Whites, who in the state data include both Hispanic and non-Hispanic whites, make up 55% of the population and 67% of those who have been vaccinated. Hispanics of any race are 11% of the population and 5% of the vaccine recipients.
– In Philadelphia, blacks are 40% of the population, but only 14% of people vaccinated in the city so far. Hispanics make up 15% of the population and 4% of the vaccine recipients.
– In Chicago, blacks make up 30% of the population, but only 15% of those vaccinated. With Hispanics, the numbers are 29% versus 17%.
The vaccination campaign has been slower and affected by more problems than expected. Many Americans of all races have had difficulty getting injections because supplies are limited. Overall, about 7% of Americans received at least one dose. But there are other problems with delaying vaccination among black Americans and other groups, experts said.
Some black neighborhoods have no one registered to give vaccines.
“What we hear over and over again: many blacks want to get it from their doctor or their local clinic because that’s where the trust is,” said Dr. Thomas Dobbs, Mississippi health officer.
Louisiana is using the CDC tool to locate vulnerable neighborhoods without vaccination sites, so recruiting new vaccinators in those neighborhoods, said Dr. Joseph Kanter, a state health officer.
Other strategies underway in some states: provide transportation for people to attend consultations and reach people living at home through mobile vaccination units.
To deal with distrust, Thomas LaVeist, dean of the School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine at Tulane University in New Orleans, is recruiting notable black Americans to help promote vaccination. The campaign, called “The Skin You’re In,” produced a video by New Orleans hip-hop artist Big Freedia amusingly demonstrating how to wear a mask.
Although LaVeist credits the Trump administration for supporting the development of the vaccine, he said naming the project Operation Warp Speed was a “disastrous” choice because it seemed to emphasize speed, not careful scientific review.
“I understand mistrust perfectly,” said LaVeist, who had his first chance on Monday. “But it is necessary to consider the risk of COVID versus the risk of the vaccine. This is a devastating disease and has a disproportionate impact on black Americans. This is what we know. “
Because of fear of deportation, there is also mistrust among Latinos who are undermining the vaccination campaign, as well as a language barrier in many cases, according to activists.
Many black Americans and others of color are taking steps to ensure that their communities receive the vaccine, including Detroit healthcare professional Sameerah Singletary, who is due to have an injection soon.
More than 1,700 residents of the country’s largest black-majority city died of the virus, including some friends of Singletary and her godmother. However, she knows many who are refusing the vaccine.
“I think there is such a collective trauma in black people, even in Detroit, that many people have nothing left,” said Singletary. “They were so traumatized that they didn’t care because the virus was just another layer at the top.”
But she added, “I feel that we must participate in our healing.”