Like public officials everywhere, Dr. Jeffrey Duchin marvels at the miraculous production of highly effective vaccines against COVID-19 in mere months.
But Duchin, head of public health in Seattle and King County, Wash., doesnât dwell on the only triumph of the pandemic response. Instead, he quickly pivots to the huge deficiencies plaguing the rollout of those lifesaving injections.
The lack of planning and coordination. The insufficient workforce and training. The inadequate public messaging and outreach. And the failure to create a uniform database to track inventory and equitably distribute shots.
âWeâre seeing the consequences now of a complete and utter failure to ensure we have a full and robust vaccination system,â Duchin said.
POLITICO
A POLITICO analysis suggests disadvantaged communities are being bypassed even in blue states fighting disparities.
Staff at Howard University give a Covid-19 vaccination to a hospital staff member on Dec. 15, 2020, in Washington, D.C. | Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images
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Black and Latino Americans are falling behind in the nationwide race to get vaccinated against Covid-19, even in blue states and localities praised for championing racial equity during earlier phases of the pandemic.
So far, the U.S. has racial and ethnic data for only about half of the vaccine doses given. Among those, just 5 percent have gone to Black Americans and only 11 percent were given to Latino recipients, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A POLITICO analysis of the available data suggests the disadvantaged and underserved communities are being bypassed, including in those states that have not yet publicly broken out data by race and ethnicity.
Public Health Systems Still Aren’t Ready for the Next Pandemic Many public health officials are worried about the lack of preparedness, training, testing and vaccine distributions for COVID-19 and what that could mean for the next pandemic. Michael Ollove and Christine Vestal, Stateline | February 1, 2021 | Analysis
Like public health officials everywhere, Dr. Jeffrey Duchin marvels at the miraculous production of highly effective vaccines against COVID-19 in mere months.
But Duchin, head of public health in Seattle and King County, Washington, doesn’t dwell on the only triumph of the pandemic response. Instead, he quickly pivots to the huge deficiencies plaguing the rollout of those lifesaving injections.
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As of Monday, Jan. 11, D.C. residents over 65 are now eligible to reserve a COVID-19 vaccine appointment anywhere in the city. D.C.’s health department aimed to make the process as convenient as possible, setting up sites for vaccinations in every quadrant so seniors wouldn’t have to travel too far from home. But with just 6,700 appointments initially released, spots filled up within hours and some traveled across the District to get vaccinated.