Black Americans have been
dying of COVID at disproportionate rates. What does that mean for vaccine
rollout?
Racial and ethnic minorities have been bearing the brunt of the COVID-19 pandemic. Black Americans have higher case, hospitalization and death rates than White Americans.
These statistics raise urgent
questions about how the vaccine will be distributed to communities of color.
Last week, Scientific American reported that Black Americans are getting
vaccinated at lower rates than White Americans. Health workers have been the focus during the
first phase of vaccination rollout. Yet, the data reveals that Black people
account for only a small share of total vaccinations even in states where they
make up a significant portion of the healthcare workforce.
There has been a significant
amount of coverage on resistance to the vaccine within the Black community. The
United States’ history of medical racism certainly has an impact on perceptions
of the vaccine, but this type of reporting can be misleading. Data from Kaiser Family Foundation shows that vaccination acceptance is going up
across all racial groups. Their findings also suggest that the majority of Black
Americans are willing to get vaccinated. Vaccine disparities are not the result
of Black resistance to the vaccination; they are the result of structural
inequality and uncoordinated government response.
Local, state and federal
response agencies know which communities have been hardest hit but have failed
to reach a consensus on how to best reach those communities. Last week, Dallas
County proposed a vaccination plan that would have prioritized zip codes with
the highest rates. The plan would have given many primarily black and brown
neighborhoods first access to the vaccine. They reversed course after the Texas Department
of State Health Services rejected the plan and threatened to reduce the number
of doses allocated to the county. This
disagreement between local and state officials highlights the need for national
guidance.
The new administration is
working to address these needs through their COVID response plan. One of outlined goals is to “protect those
most at risk and advance equity, including across racial, ethnic and rural/
urban lines.” To that end, President Biden signed an executive order establishing a Health Equity task force to develop
recommendations for “mitigating the health inequities caused or exacerbated by
the COVID-19 pandemic.” Many studies have explored how social determinants of health (which include
factors like housing and poverty) impact COVID-19 exposure and mortality. The Health Equity Task Force must address
these same factors when crafting their vaccination and policy recommendations.
The question is how fast can they do it; with daily cases regularly topping
150,000 and with over 100,000 people currently hospitalized, every day counts.