Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, some things haven’t changed.
“Black and Hispanic people have been less likely than their white counterparts to receive a vaccine, but these disparities have narrowed over time, particularly for Hispanic people,” according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.
The latest Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data reported that the race/ethnicity was known for 74% of people who had received at least one dose of the vaccine. Among this group, the majority (56%) were white.
Vaccination rates were far lower for other groups: 10% were Black, 20% were Hispanic, 7% were Asian, 1% were American Indian or Alaska Native, and fewer than 1% were Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander.
“‘Ensuring equity in the uptake of booster shots and vaccinations among children is also important.’”
“Significant gaps in data remain to help understand who is and is not getting vaccinated. To date, CDC is not publicly reporting state-level data on the racial/ethnic composition of people vaccinated,” KFF said.
Nor is the CDC reporting racial/ethnic vaccination data for children, or racial/ethnic data for boosters is limited to those 65 and older, it added. Among that latter group, 73% were white, 8% were Black, 8% were Hispanic, 4% were Asian.
“With booster shot eligibility expanded to all individuals ages 12 and older and children ages 5-11 eligible for vaccination, ensuring equity in the uptake of booster shots and vaccinations among children is also important,” KFF added.
The two-shot mRNA-based vaccines made by Pfizer
PFE,
with German partner BioNTech SE
BNTX,
, and Moderna
MRNA,
make up the majority of shots in the U.S. Less than 63% of the population is fully vaccinated, and only 37.5% have boosters.
‘High vulnerability’
The rate of change in vaccination coverage was lower in “high vulnerability” California counties compared to moderate and low vulnerability counties, as measured by the Social Vulnerability Index, a separate study this week found.
The index was created by the CDC, and determines the relative social vulnerability of the population, along the lines of socioeconomic status, household composition and disability, minority status and language, and housing and transportation.
Published in the Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health, the peer-reviewed study found that minority groups and English-speaking ability were key factors in reducing access to COVID-19 vaccines, highlighting the need for more outreach.
“‘We started to see residents of high-vulnerable counties achieve a higher rate of vaccination.’”
“In other words, counties with more racial/ethnic minority residents, and with a higher concentration of people whose English is less fluent, had a slower rise in the number of vaccinations taking place,” said co-author Alexander Bruckhaus.
Bruckhaus, a research fellow at the University of Southern California’s Mark and Mary Stevens Neuroimaging and Informatics Institute, and his fellow scientists analyzed vaccination data between December 2020 and May 2021.
“In March 2021, the state of California made a decision to invest in public education around the vaccine, and that’s about when we started to see residents of high-vulnerable counties achieve a higher rate of vaccination,” Bruckhaus said.
Since then the omicron variant has blazed a trail across the U.S., putting pressure on hospitals. Intensive care units nationally have an 80% occupancy rate, according to the New York Times tracker, but many hospitals are at full or near-full capacity.
