Michigan, Connecticut push for vaccine equity

States join in virtual panel to discuss ways to communicate, educate

In March and April of last year, Black residents of Michigan, who represent 14% of the state population, accounted for 41% of COVID19 deaths in the state. By the fall, that mortality rate fell to below 10%.

Michigan Lt. Governor Garlin Gilchrist told Connecticut leaders on a virtual panel Tuesday that his state decided early on in the COVID-19 crisis to be “unapologetic” about addressing racial disparities head-on.

“When we focus on these disparities, we can not only flatten them and make progress, but we can strengthen our overall state response,” he said.

In the interstate panel, state officials and public health experts from Connecticut and Michigan shared success stories about equitable public health responses to the COVID-19 pandemic and discussed the challenges ahead in distributing the COVID-19 vaccine.

More than 150,000 doses of the coronavirus vaccine have been administered in Connecticut. But Lt. Governor Susan Bysiewicz, who moderated the panel, noted that 35% of Black adults in America say they do not want to get vaccinated, according to a recent study from the Kaiser Family Foundation.

“It’s going to take all levels of government—federal, state and municipal—working together with community partners, with faith leaders and trusted parties to educate our citizens about the effectiveness and safety of the vaccine,” she said.

Reducing disparities in Michigan

In order to tackle Michigan’s racial disparities in COVID-19 mortality rates, in the early months of the pandemic, the state built a diverse coalition of public health experts, faith leaders, medical doctors, community organizers and tribal leaders.

“The mortality rate disparity was galling and we decided there was something we could do about it,” Gilchrist said.

Michigan mounted a communication campaign targeting communities of color, expanded access to COVID-19 testing and helped connect residents of color to primary care physicians, he said.

Dr. Joneigh S. Khaldun, chief medical executive and chief deputy director for health for the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, said that the state took public health services directly to hard-hit communities.

“We did a lot of work with mobile clinics. We did a lot of work with faith-based communities and churches and really got into the community to make sure they had what they needed—and also that we were listening,” she said.

Those interventions had an impact: for the months of October, November and December, Black residents accounted for less than 10% of COVID-19 deaths—a decrease of more than 30% since March and April.

Now, Michigan faces the task of vaccinating 70% of the population, or 7 million people. The goal is daunting but achievable, said Gilchrist, who is a co-chair of the Protect Michigan Commission, a task force designed to educate the public about the safety and effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccine.

“There’s a difference between the existence of a vaccine and people getting vaccinated,” he said. “We need to cross that chasm together.”

Increasing trust in Connecticut

Equity does not happen by default, but rather requires intentionality, said Dr. Marcella NunezSmith, an associate professor of medicine and epidemiology at the Yale School of Medicine and the chairwoman of President-Elect Joe Biden’s COVID-19 Equity Task Force and COVID-19 Advisory Board.

Public officials can increase trust and confidence in the COVID-19 vaccine by listening to residents and tailoring interventions to specific communities, she emphasized.

For Rev. Robyn Anderson, a pastor at Blackwell AME Zion Church in Hartford and director of the Ministerial Health Fellowship, taking a hyper-local approach to COVID-19 education has proven successful. She and her team went door-to-door in towns like Hartford, Middletown and New Britain, handing out thermometers, hand sanitizer, soap and informational materials about COVID-19 in English and Spanish.

“It’s amazing how people said, ‘You found me, somebody found me, somebody was actually there to be able to talk with me,’ ” she said.

Increasing trust in the COVID19 vaccine requires clearly communicating risks and benefits and being willing to “hold space” for people’s fears and worries, emphasized Wizdom Powell, director of the Health Disparities Institute and associate professor of psychiatry at UConn Health.

Dr. Reginald Eadie, president of Trinity Health of New England and co-chair of the state’s COVID19 vaccine advisory group, noted that a subcommittee of the group recommended expanding Phase 1B eligibility Tuesday in an effort to increase equity. If the recommendation is approved, Phase 1B would include frontline essential workers and residents of congregate settings, residents who are 65 and older and residents who have at least one health condition that places them at high-risk of COVID-19.

“It increases tremendously the number of participants or eligible citizens in Phase 1B, but it’s the right thing to do and it’s the right time to do it,” he said.