State data shows racial disparity among vaccination efforts
State data shows racial disparity among vaccination efforts-2/3/21 By Makenzie Burk | February 3, 2021 at 9:37 PM CST - Updated February 3 at 10:23 PM
ALTUS, Okla. (TNN) -Racial disparities are creating obstacles in the fight against COVID-19 as research shows minorities are far less likely to get the vaccine.
From the data collected in Oklahoma, 65.9% of people receiving the vaccine are white, and only 2.7% are black.
The other races represented were Asian, American Indian and other, which were all less than 4 percent.
“So if we see that we have a population that’s not taking advantage or receiving a service at the level that we think that they maybe should, then we need to dive a little bit deeper and figure out what those challenges are,” said Brandie Combs, Regional Health Department Director.
OSDH changes focus to vaccinations, reduces contact tracing
OSDH changes focus to vaccinations, reduces contact tracing-1/27/21 By Makenzie Burk | January 27, 2021 at 5:58 PM CST - Updated January 27 at 6:14 PM
LAWTON, Okla. (TNN) -The Oklahoma State Department of Health has stopped contact tracing, except for a few select groups.
Instead, theyâre asking the general public to do their own contact tracing.
Since the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccines, priorities have shifted to getting as many people vaccinated as possible, taking away the man power to devote to contact tracing.
âInitially we were going out and we were calling every single person every positive case weâre doing an interview and weâre asking who youâve been around so that we can then ask them to quarantine, stay at home, stay out of the public,â said Brandie Combs, Regional Health Department Director. âAs we progress through this pandemic everyone knows what they should do an