Vaccine clinics operated by the University of Alabama at Birmingham administered more injections to minorities than national and state averages, according to statistics released on Wednesday.
About 31 percent of vaccines delivered by UAB were for minorities, including nearly 21 percent for black patients. Almost 27% of Alabama’s population is black. The UAB team also distributed about 7% of vaccines to Asians and 3% to Hispanics. The majority, 67 percent, went to white patients. About 69% of Alabama’s population is white.
A report by the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released in early February found that blacks made up 5.4 percent of vaccine recipients in the first month of vaccination among places that tracked data by race.
“From the beginning, we have been determined in our planning and outreach to make equity a central focus of our vaccination efforts,” said Dr. Sarah Nafziger, vice president of clinical operations at Hospital UAB. “Although our initial results are better than the national average with black communities, we are not satisfied and we will continue our efforts to increase reach among underrepresented groups.”
Minorities face a greater risk than whites of contracting COVID-19 and suffering complications that lead to hospitalization and death. The risk of hospitalization is about three times higher for blacks and Hispanics than for whites, according to the CDC, raising concerns about the slow pace of vaccinations in these communities.
UAB operates three vaccine clinics in the Birmingham area. The most recent site to be opened at AH Parker High School is located near underserved communities and was designed to deliver photos to people who may not have access to the internet or transportation. A Jefferson County program offers free or discounted travel to vaccination sites for people in the community.
Winter weather earlier this week closed some of the drive-through clinics, but they reopened on Thursday.
According to the Alabama Department of Public Health, almost 12% of vaccine recipients in the state are black and 55% are white. But 28% of recipients did not report race, according to the vaccine panel.
UAB staff and volunteers delivered 59,167 vaccines, representing 10 percent of the total across the state. Nafziger said the health system has the capacity to increase these numbers, depending on the supply.
“We believe we have the capacity to deliver up to 20,000 doses of vaccine per week with the current structure we have in place,” said Nafziger. “But we are not getting enough vaccine to supply our sites at that level and our allocations have decreased. We will continue to work with the Alabama Department of Public Health and, when they give us the vaccine, we will deliver it quickly and efficiently to eligible people. “