The state’s effort to improve access to the COVID-19 vaccine and build confidence in the vaccine for one of Alabama’s most vulnerable groups – black residents – is lacking for a population almost three times as likely to die and almost four times as likely to die hospitalized with COVID-19 than whites, advocates say.
“We feel that there are two things that the state could be doing much better,” said Bernard Simelton, president of NAACP.
“They need to disseminate more information about the vaccine and use different media to inform the public about how to apply, where to apply”, such as black churches and radio stations.
“The information has to be disseminated in a way that people can understand it.”
Without reference point
There is no publicly available data on how many black Alabamians have received the COVID-19 vaccine so far – or any other racial group.
Alabama has not yet made this data public because some vaccine providers are still learning how to enter this information into the state system, said Alabama State Assistant Health Officer Dr. Karen Landers. She said the state is still collecting this data.
As for when this information will be made public, Landers said: “We don’t have a timetable, but we continue to work to have the most accurate data about the race, before viewing it on our dashboard.”
See too: How long will it take to vaccinate Alabama and how can we accelerate?
Neighboring Mississippi is one of only 20 states that made this data public, and the numbers show that blacks are being disproportionately vaccinated in relation to their share of the state’s population.
Only 18% of blacks in Mississippi received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, despite covering 37% of the state’s population, according to the latest statistics provided by the Mississippi Department of Health. Meanwhile, Mississippi whites were responsible for 69% of COVID-19 vaccinations, while representing 59% of the state’s population.
Alabama’s release of these data would provide a benchmark for whether blacks are receiving the vaccine equitably and address areas on how to improve access.
A late start
The Alabama Department of Public Health is working to improve access to vaccines among vulnerable populations.
The agency made a request for proposals, offering $ 100,000 to $ 250,000 to groups to increase access to the vaccine for black, Hispanic and Native American tribes. But decisions about who will receive that money will not be made until after March 30 – the deadline for sending RFPs; ADPH could not be reached for comment on when the funds will be distributed.
Proponents say the deadline is too late, as it has been known for months that blacks are 2.8 times more likely to die from COVID-19 and 3.7 times more likely to be hospitalized with the virus than whites.
“This is CDC funding – I wish it had come a long time ago. The outline of the activity in the RFP is the kind of thing that could have been planned months ago, so it’s a shame that this strategic thinking wasn’t in place before, ”said Jim Carnes, Alabama policy director Arise, who advocates for low-income Alabamians.
“We are in a position to do what we can. It looks like they are planning to fund activities that may actually be critical to addressing potential vaccine disparities, but the time is, like, two months late. People in organizations will have to strive to gain significant traction in an attempt to avoid disparities. “
Simelton said that NAACP has taken a proactive approach in disseminating information about the vaccine to the black community.
The organization is holding weekly information sessions from Wednesday to March 4 with experts from the UAB and ADPH Hospital to answer questions and concerns about the vaccine, but he said the state needs to do more in reaching blacks.
“There are still a lot of people that we will not reach and they need to work with the community and community-based groups to help spread the word,” he said. “They must be looking for us. They have a responsibility to contact community-based groups to ask what we can do to help get the message out better. “
The state is launching mass vaccination clinics for COVID-19 in Anniston, Auburn, Birmingham, Dothan, Huntsville, Mobile, Montgomery, Selma and Tuscaloosa.
‘A record of betrayal’
Even though COVID-19 is more likely to be deadly to blacks, less than half of African Americans say they will receive the vaccine as soon as it is made available to them and 30 percent say they will not be vaccinated, according to a survey by National Foundation for Infectious Diseases.
Of those who have not received the vaccine or are unsure whether they want to be immunized, 66% said they are concerned about the safety and effectiveness of the vaccine and 45% fear that the vaccine could harm them.
In Alabama, the seeds of distrust were planted in the Tuskegee Experiment, the formerly secret program of the federal government where poor black sharecroppers in Macon County with untreated syphilis were studied under the pretext of receiving free medical treatment for their participation.
“We have a record here of betrayal of African American communities by the government and we have to keep that in mind, as we are entering a mass health program,” said Carnes. “We need to break some of this skepticism, which is well-founded.”
Simelton added: “This is certainly a tremendous concern, and some people have said to me, ‘I will not be [the government’s] guinea pig … but that is why it is important to give the correct information to communities. “