This story is produced by the Indigenous Investigative Collective, a project of the Native American Journalists Association in partnership with High Country News, Indian Country Today, National Native News and Searchlight New Mexico. It was produced in partnership with MuckRock with the support of JSK-Big Local News. In May of 2020, the Navajo Nation reported […]
From medical health privacy laws to a maze of siloed information systems, a true accounting of COVID-19’s impact on Indian Country is impossible to know.
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In May of 2020, the Navajo Nation reported one of the highest per-capita COVID-19 infection rates in the United States. Since that milestone, official data reveals that the Navajo Nation has been one of the hardest-hit populations during the pandemic. The Navajo Nation boasts the largest population of any Indigenous nation in the United States, and thousands of Navajos live outside the nation, in towns along the border, cities across the country, and in other parts of the world, making it difficult to tally the virus impacts on Navajo citizens.
It s made worse by a labyrinthian system of local, state, federal and tribal data-reporting systems that often do not communicate with each other or share information. In an effort to come up with a more reliable fatality count, reporters with the Indigenous Investigative Collective made multiple public-records requests for death records held by state medical examiners of Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona and Utah. Those requests focuse
With more COVID vaccines available, Oklahoma tribes expand eligibility rules msn.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from msn.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Paula Burkes
Special to Oklahoman
With access to a much greater volume of COVID-19 vaccines than was initially made available to them, Indian nations in Oklahoma began offering inoculations to younger tribal members, spouses and others.
Meanwhile, the chief medical officer of the Rockville, Maryland-based Indian Health Service, which supplies the vaccines to Indian clinics nationwide, said he fully expects that by the end of the summer, anyone across Indian Country will be able to get vaccinated.
As part of its public health marketing campaign, the Indian Health Service has been “touting the vaccine being free,” Rear Adm. Dr. Michael Toedt, said on a recent media call.