Early data on the launch of vaccines for COVID-19 show that minority populations in the United States already disproportionately affected by the pandemic are not being immunized to the same extent as white Americans.
Dr. Uché Blackstock, a medical contributor to Yahoo News, believes there are several factors that contribute to this disparity.
“One of the problems I saw early on is that if most hospitals and pharmacies distribute the vaccine, we will lose many people,” said Blackstock. According to a recent GoodRX survey, minority communities tend to have fewer pharmacies per capita, which puts them at a disadvantage based on where they live.
“We need to get vaccines to people,” added Blackstock, suggesting that mobile vaccination units can help increase access in areas where transportation is an issue.
In 16 states that released preliminary data on who received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, white residents were more likely to receive an injection than blacks, KHN news reported. In Pennsylvania, data as of January 14 showed that while 1.3% of whites in the state had received the vaccination, only 0.3% of black residents received it. In Mississippi, 1.3 percent of African American residents have been vaccinated so far, compared with 3.5 percent of white residents.
Although there are several factors that may be responsible for the initial discrepancy in the vaccination rate, Blackstock believes that the pattern will remain.
“It is the same thing that people said at the beginning of the pandemic, when there was incomplete data that showed that blacks and Latinos were also being infected, hospitalized and dying at higher rates. But after obtaining the complete data, he confirmed the initial data, as if we already knew which communities are vulnerable, ”said Blackstock.
African-Americans, Latinos and Native Americans die of COVID-19 at a rate almost three times that of white Americans, according to figures provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. These minority groups are also four times more likely to be hospitalized with the coronavirus than white Americans.
“If we are seeing these trends at the beginning, I think now is an opportunity to respond to that data, right?” Blackstock said of the vaccine launch. “To direct our efforts, according to the data. And therefore, we are seeing these trends so soon, we can really try to correct the course. “
On Monday, White House press secretary Jen Psaki spoke about the challenge of meeting President Biden’s goal of vaccinating 1 million Americans every day for the next 100 days.
“It’s not just about having supplies, which is essential, of course. It’s also about having more people who can physically put the injections in Americans’ arms and making sure there are places where it can be done, ”said Psaki.
Biden has always talked about the need for an equitable response to the pandemic. On his first day in office, he signed an executive order stating that “the pandemic COVID-19 exposed and exacerbated the serious and widespread social and health inequities in America” and directed federal agencies to coordinate a response.
Blackstock said another factor contributing to low rates of preliminary vaccination among African Americans is skepticism about the vaccine, which she attributed to a longstanding pattern of discrimination against minorities by the medical institution. But she believes that there are ways to combat this distrust.
“I think that with this problem, what needs to happen is that we need health professionals and these communities to be able to talk to their patients about the vaccine and answer these questions,” she said, adding that those an effort should be supported by a national public health campaign to promote vaccines.
“We need to see [it] on buses, trains and billboards, social media, TV commercials, ”said Blackstock. “We need to see information about the vaccine, why it is important for people to take it and see positive images about how to talk about vaccines. We didn’t see any of that. “
Finally, Blackstock noted that some minority communities do not have access or proficiency with the technology required by some health systems to register for an appointment to be vaccinated.
“If you have the vaccines there, but people in the community are unable to make appointments because of the complicated process of applying for a vaccine … then people who need the vaccine will not get it right,” added Blackstock. “And we are going to reinforce the inequalities that we have already seen in the pandemic.”
_____
Read more on Yahoo News: