Texas health organizations have a responsibility to promote vaccines statesman.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from statesman.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
By Octavio N. Martinez Jr.
Although the term “vaccine hesitancy” has gained momentum in recent months, it fails to capture the systemic nature of the greater problem of vaccine access and lack of trust in public health institutions, especially among groups and communities that historically have been underserved and mistreated or even abused by the public health and medical care systems. We should rephrase it to “vaccine equity.”
The COVID-19 pandemic undeniably hit communities of color the hardest. Disparities in testing, infection rates, rates of hospitalization and death in communities of color have been well-documented since the onset of the pandemic. And yet, according to the latest data available, the rate of vaccination within these groups lags well behind that of white individuals nationally, and Texas is no exception.
By Octavio N. Martinez, Jr. and Rudolph K. Metayer
Just under 43,000 Texans have died from COVID-19. That is a staggering figure. Something else that is just as astonishing? According to a study by the Episcopal Health Foundation, racial and ethnic disparities were responsible for an additional 5,000 deaths from COVID-19 as of September 2020, accounting for 30% of all deaths at that time. It is obvious that our state’s ability to stay healthy is harmed by the inequitable distribution of lifesaving health care services among Texans.
This unnecessary loss of life costs us in all respects. The toll is not just emotional or psychological but also financial. This same study estimates that health disparities cost Texans $7.7 billion in excess medical spending and lost productivity.