COVID-19 vaccine booster rates lag among African-American and Hispanic residents, County Executive Marc Elrich said, during a Press conference, on Wednesday.
“There’s about a 21 percentage point gap between white and black residents, and a 27 percentage point gap between white and Latino residents, and it’s a problem,” Elrich said, sharing data on booster shots as of June 28. February, for people over 12 years fully vaccinated. Reinforcement rates also lag among younger adults, Elrich noted.
Elrich shared data showing that the county’s Hispanic population was the hardest hit by COVID-19 hospitalizations from the start of the pandemic until just before last summer. But African-American residents have been hit harder by hospitalizations since last summer and during the surge of the Omicron variant, Elrich said. “The County continues to focus efforts on communities and zip codes that are underperforming in terms of vaccination and booster shot rates. A new marketing and outreach campaign will be launched targeting the African American and Hispanic communities to encourage vaccinations and especially boosters.”
Dr. Kathryn Kelly, a local internal medicine specialist and member of the Black Physicians and Healthcare Network, joined Wednesday’s briefing and said she believes the rise in hospitalizations among African-American residents is a direct reflection of disparities already existing in access to medical care.
Among her own patients, Kelly sees resistance to vaccines and a historical mistrust of medications and medical providers. She sees a lot of misinformation on social media.
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