Jacksonville s COVID-19 vaccine rollout has failed to address the needs of Black and other people of color, many of whom are suspicious of the rapidly developed drug because of long-held mistrust of the health care system, according to local Black leaders.
In a recent letter to Mayor Lenny Curry, they asked that the number of vaccination and testing sites be expanded, ensuring that communities of color within the city are adequately covered. They also requested more vaccine-related education and a panel of public and community leaders to set local vaccination priorities, among other things. We are confronting the most challenging public health emergency of our lifetime. … The COVID-19 pandemic continues to expose the failures of our public health systems, the pervasive structural and institutional racism that permeates our community and the inequities that confront us, according to the letter.
In his four decades as a minister, R. B. Holmes Jr. has never dealt with so much death.
More than 24,000 Floridians have died from COVID-19, including more than a few of the flock that Holmes shepherds at Bethel Missionary Baptist Church in Tallahassee.
“No one is immune from this,” Holmes told CT. “The thief is winning. The virus is a thief.”
The black pastor is especially concerned that the coronavirus has disproportionately impacted his community and other communities of racial minorities around the state. According to statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, black people are 1.4 times more likely to become infected with COVID-19 and 2.8 times more likely to die from it than white people.
Groups Strategize COVID-19 Vaccine Access for People of Color medscape.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from medscape.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Plans Needed for People of Color to Be Vaccinated
Jan. 19, 2021 Groups nationwide are looking for ways to secure coronavirus vaccines for people of color who have suffered disproportionately during the pandemic, according to USA Today.
States that rank highly on COVID-19 vulnerability indexes, in particular, have fallen behind on vaccinations for high-risk groups that need them most.
In Nevada, for instance, several nonprofits focused on specific racial and ethnic groups created the One Community Campaign to educate at-risk groups about COVID-19 and vaccines.
One of the nonprofits the Arriba Las Vegas Workers Center supports Latino domestic workers and laborers. Throughout the pandemic, the group has taught workers how to protect themselves from the virus. Now the group is helping workers make vaccination appointments.
Amid access hurdles, grassroots efforts underway to get COVID-19 vaccine to at-risk people of color Nada Hassanein and Ken Alltucker, USA TODAY
How COVID-19 is disproportionately affecting people of color
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Donis Hernández spent three hours Wednesday trying to register his 77-year-old father for a COVID-19 vaccination appointment.
The Las Vegas construction worker and his dad have been waiting for this moment. Hernández works at construction sites where four of his co-workers have contracted COVID-19. He worries about his dad, who lives with him.
But when he finally got through on the newly opened online portal for seniors, appointments already were booked through June.