Ohio and Cuyahoga County’s shocking failure to make sure minorities weren’t shortchanged in COVID-19 vaccine scramble Editorial Board, cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer, cleveland.com
For the past pandemic year, statistics have told a grim story about COVID-19 1/4 u2032s disproportionate impact on communities of color for Blacks, in particular. Nationally, Blacks have died from COVID-19 at one and a half times the rate of whites. In Ohio, Blacks accounted for 18% of COVID-19 hospitalizations, when they only constitute 13% of the state’s population and those statistics are likely incomplete.
More recently, as the COVID-19 vaccine became available, experts, including former U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams, had warned of the need to make sure minorities weren’t overlooked. Adams especially flagged the need to promote the vaccine among Blacks made suspicious of a health care system that has often marginalized them.