A racial rift has emerged in the country’s COVID-19 vaccination campaign, with black Americans lagging behind in receiving whites in many places, an Associated Press analysis shows.
An early look at the 17 states and two cities that caused racial breakdowns up to Jan. 25 showed that black people everywhere are being vaccinated at levels lower than their share of the general population, in some cases significantly lower.
That’s true, even though they make up too great a percentage of the country’s health workers, who were in the front line for shots when the campaign began in mid-December.
In North Carolina, for example, black people make up 22% of the population and 26% of the health care workforce, but only 11% of vaccine recipients so far. White people, a category where the state includes both Hispanic and non-Hispanic whites, are 68% of the population and 82% of vaccinated people.
The divide is deeply troubling to some as the coronavirus has taken a disproportionate toll on serious illness and death for black people in the US, where the plague has killed more than 430,000 Americans. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, black, Hispanic, and Native American people die from COVID-19 nearly three times as fast as whites.
“We will see an increase and worsening of the racial health inequalities that were here before the pandemic and worsened during the pandemic if our communities do not have access to the vaccine,” said Dr. Uché Blackstock, an emergency physician in New York and CEO of Health Equity Promotion, an advocacy group that tackles prejudice and inequality.
Experts say several factors could be driving emerging inequality, including deep distrust in the medical world among black Americans due to a history of discriminatory treatment; insufficient access to the vaccine in black neighborhoods; and a digital divide that can make it difficult to get critical information. Applications for vaccinations are largely done online.
“It’s frustrating and challenging,” said Dr. Michelle Fiscus, who leads the Tennessee vaccination program, which is doubling doses sent to some hard-hit rural countries, but is running into deep-seated mistrust among some black Tennesseans.
“We have to work very hard to rebuild that trust and get these people vaccinated,” Fiscus said. ‘They’re dying. They are hospitalized. “
Hispanic people also lagged behind on vaccinations, but their levels were slightly closer to expectations in most of the places studied. Hispanics are younger than other Americans on average, and vaccinations have yet to be opened up to young people.
However, several states where Latin American communities were particularly hard hit by COVID-19 have not yet reported any data, notably California and New York.
President Joe Biden is trying to bring more equality in the rollout of vaccines inherited from the Trump administration. The Biden administration encourages states to map and target vulnerable neighborhoods using tools such as the CDC’s Social Vulnerability Index, which includes data on race, poverty, overcrowded homes, and other factors.
“We’re going to take additional steps to reach the people who are most difficult to reach, and that work is currently underway,” said Dr. Marcella Nunez-Smith, the chairman of Biden’s COVID-19 equity task force.
Most states have yet to release racial data about who has been vaccinated. Even in the states that have provided breakdowns, the data is often incomplete, with many records missing details about race. However, the missing information would in most cases not be enough to change the overall picture.
Data was from Alaska, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Indiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Nebraska, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia and West Virginia, plus two cities, Philadelphia and Chicago.
The AP analysis found that in most states surveyed, whites are vaccinated at levels closer to or higher than expected.
Initially, health workers and nursing home residents were generally given priority when shooting in the US.
In recent weeks, many states have opened up the possibility to a larger group of older people and more front-line workers, which could further depress the relative share of black people getting vaccinated. The population aged 65 and older is more white than other age groups.
Among the findings:
– In Maryland, black people make up 30% of the population and 40% of the healthcare system, but represent only 16% of people vaccinated so far. White people, who, according to state data, include both Hispanic and non-Hispanic whites, make up 55% of the population and 67% of those who got shot. Hispanics of any race are 11% of the population and 5% of the vaccine recipients.
– In Philadelphia, black people make up 40% of the population, but only 14% of the people vaccinated so far in the city. Hispanics are 15% of the population and 4% of the vaccine recipients.
– In Chicago, black people make up 30% of the population, but only 15% of the vaccinated people. For Hispanics, the figures are 29% versus 17%.
The vaccination drive has been slower and more troubled than expected. Many Americans of all races have struggled to get shots because the supply is limited. In total, about 7% of Americans have received at least one dose. But there are other issues slowing vaccination among black Americans and other groups, experts said.
In some black neighborhoods, no one is registered to take photos.
“What we’ve heard over and over: a lot of black people want to get it from their doctor or from 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 and then recruit new vaccinators in those neighborhoods, said Dr. Joseph Kanter, State Health Officer.
Other strategies underway in some states include providing transportation so that people can keep their appointments and reach people at home via mobile vaccination units.
To address the mistrust, Thomas LaVeist, dean of the School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine at Tulane University in New Orleans, is recruiting notable black Americans to promote vaccination. The campaign, dubbed ‘The Skin You’re In’, has resulted in a video of New Orleans hip-hop artist Big Freedia playfully demonstrating how to wear a mask.
While LaVeist gives credit to the Trump administration for supporting vaccine development, he said naming the Operation Warp Speed project was a “disastrous” choice because it seemed to emphasize speed and not careful scientific research. rating.
“I fully understand the mistrust,” said LaVeist, who got his first chance on Monday. “But you have to weigh the risk of COVID against the risk of the vaccine. This is a devastating disease and has had a disproportionate impact on black Americans. That’s what we do know. “
Because of fears of deportation, activists say there is also mistrust among Latinos that undermines vaccination, as well as a language barrier in many cases.
Many black Americans and other people of color are taking steps to ensure their communities get the vaccine, including Detroit health worker Sameerah Singletary, who will soon have a chance.
More than 1,700 residents of the country’s largest black-majority city have died of the virus, including some friends of Singletary and her godmother. Yet she knows many who refuse the vaccine.
“I think there is such a collective trauma in black people, even in Detroit, that a lot of people are left with nothing,” Singletary said. “They’re so traumatized they don’t care because the virus was just another layer on top.”
But she added, “I feel we must participate in our healing.”