School of Pharmacy Volunteers Help Vaccinate Underserved Communities in Vaccine Equity Effort 2021 PharmD students Janvi Shah (left) and Kathryn Freitag (right) give the COVID-19 vaccine to a couple at the vaccine clinic held at the McKenzie Family Boys & Girls Club in Sun Prairie. Photo by Paul L. Newby II 18 May
The School of Pharmacy, Fitchburg Family Pharmacy, and the Boys and Girls Club partner to increase COVID-19 vaccine access and address hesitancy among BIPOC communities
By Katie Ginder-Vogel
As pharmacists and healthcare providers rallied to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, the race to vaccinate the public opened a different battlefront addressing vaccine equity. Although people of color have been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic in coronavirus cases, hospitalizations, and deaths, these communities of color have lower rates of vaccination. In Wisconsin, the COVID-19 vaccination rate for Black patients is about half the rate of white patients.