COVID-19 vaccine booster rates are lagging among Black and Hispanic residents, County Executive Marc Elrich said during a media briefing Wednesday.
“There’s a gap of about 21 percentage points between white and Black residents, and 27 percentage point gap between white and Latino, and it’s a problem,” Elrich said, sharing booster data as of Feb. 28 for fully-vaccinated people ages 12+. Booster rates are lagging among younger adults as well, Elrich said.
He shared data showing the county’s Hispanic population was most impacted by COVID-19 hospitalizations since the start of the pandemic until just before last summer. But, Black residents have been most impacted by hospitalizations since last summer and during the Omicron variant surge, Elrich said. He said the county continues to concentrate efforts in communities and zip codes that are underperforming in terms of vaccination and booster rates. A new marketing and outreach campaign will launch, targeting Black and Hispanic communities to encourage vaccinations and especially boosters.
Dr. Kathryn Kelly, a local internal medicine specialist and member of the Black Physicians and Healthcare Network, joined Wednesday’s briefing and said she thinks the increased hospitalizations among Black residents is a direct reflection of already existing disparities in access to healthcare.
Among her own patients, Kelly sees vaccine hesitancy and some historical mistrust of medication and medical providers. She sees a lot of misinformation on social media. She said she tries to break down the facts for her patients.
“Just going through and talking to them from a non-judgemental standpoint and giving them the correct information,” Kelly said.
