According to a study on vaccines and race published by the Kaiser Family Foundation, Black and Hispanic people are disproportionately underrepresented nationwide in vaccination numbers, a continuing trend among minorities. Death rates and COVID-19 infections have unequally impacted communities of color as well.
Office of Multicultural Affairs academic retention specialist Corrin Bond has been working with students and community members struggling this past year.
“The pandemic really widened inequity gaps,” Bond said. “We see that across all sorts of systems. When it comes to racism in the medical system, lack of appropriate health care. A lot of the inequity across the different systems that we saw were really exacerbated with the pandemic and carried on into vaccines.”
Bond also referenced barriers such as language gaps and difficult work schedules, things students have sought help for at the OMA.
Communicating when vaccines are available for different groups has been problematic enough, let alone for students and families who may have difficulty navigating medical jargon in English.
“As a resident of Idaho, one big thing I followed was not as much information about how to schedule a vaccine and who was eligible,” Bond said. “I have many loved ones in the service industry who didn’t realize they were eligible to get vaccinated for a while.”
As for the conversation surrounding the idea of minorities “being less motivated” to receive vaccines, Bond sees it as an issue of accessibility and medical trust.
“My first question is, what does that mean? I think that is common rhetoric when discussing communities of color,” Bond said. “There’s a lot of stereotypes that place responsibilities on individuals rather than looking at the systems we are living in. When we’re talking about things like not being motivated, all of a sudden all these questions come into my head like ‘Does that person have the resources?’”
Issues of getting time off of work, comprehending how the vaccine works, understanding the vaccine signup process and simply having online access to resources could all disproportionately burden minorities.
“I think it ties into communication, having lost trust in communities of color,” Bond said. “Seeing members of those communities trying to build that trust up for the health and wellbeing of getting vaccinated.”
The Black Lives Matter Speaker Series hosted Cedric Taylor’s discussion on COVID-19 and racial inequality in America. Taylor is a documentary filmmaker and professor of sociology at Central Michigan University.
“We are indeed in a storm, but we are in different boats,” Taylor said. “This pandemic has laid bare some fundamental inequalities of American society.”
Minority populations of Blacks, Hispanics and American Indians disproportionally make up much more of the COVID-19 deaths in America according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Taylor acknowledged that lack of healthcare access plays a part, but a lack of trust in doctors also established vaccine hesitancy. Black adults have been found to have more negative views on medical scientists, according to Pew Research Center.
In order to overcome these inequalities, Taylor called for changes in sick and family leave, how educational institutions are funded and entrenched structural racism.
As of now, a statistical breakdown of ethnicity and vaccinations on the district level are difficult to find, with Public Health – Idaho North Central District being unable to provide District 5’s numbers.
“We only have race ethnicity data for 53% of those who have received their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine,” physician Marcella Nunez-Smith said in a White House press briefing.
Haadiya Tariq can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @haadiyatariq