Wealthier ZIP codes fare better for vaccine
Maricopa County data also shows higher vaccination rates for Native Americans
Some of Maricopa County’s wealthier ZIP codes have among the highest percentages of eligible residents vaccinated, while those ZIP codes at the bottom of the list tend to be lower income, according to county estimates from the first weeks of COVID-19 vaccine distribution.
Native Americans also were faring well in getting vaccines in the early phases of the rollout.
The ZIP code map shows a band of light blue, which means a lower vaccination rate, along the Interstate 17 corridor as well as in more rural parts of western and northwestern Maricopa County, such as Wickenburg and Aguila.
Five of the top 10 nontribal areas of the county with the highest vaccine rates had median household incomes of $100,000 or more and all were higher than the overall county median of $68,649, the data showed. With the exception of Queen Creek, none of the county ZIP codes with the 10 lowest vaccination rates had median household incomes higher than the county median.
Fifteen percent of the population eligible to be vaccinated in the lower income 85009 ZIP code, an area in Phoenix west of I-17 and south of I-10, had received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, the data shows. The median household income in 85009 is $32,893.
In contrast, 87% of the upscale 85266 ZIP code in Scottsdale had received at least one dose. The median household income in 85266 is $145,000.
All income figures are based on U.S. census data from the 2019 American Community Survey.
“Lower income people are just at a flat out disadvantage,” said Will Humble, executive director of the Arizona Public Health Association and a former state health director, after studying the county’s map. “Now that story has been told definitively with exactly who has been vaccinated.”
More progress also needs to be made in immunizing older county residents against the SARS-CoV-2 virus, the new coronavirus that causes COVID-19. Fewer than half of the county’s 75 and older population — 44% — had received at least one dose of vaccine, the data says.
The county this week opened registration to people between the ages of 65 and 74.
The Maricopa County Department of Public Health data drills down by ZIP code, community, race, age and ethnicity to show how the county is doing in reaching vulnerable communities and minority groups.
Not everyone has been eligible for a vaccine at this stage in the rollout, and the county’s ZIP code map uses estimates of the eligible population as a denominator for calculating vaccination rates. Maricopa County officials calculated the eligible population to include:
Phase 1A: Health care workers, first responders,
long-term care facility staff and long-term care residents.
Phase 1B Priority: People ages 75 and older, K-12 school staff and childcare workers, law enforcement/protective services, and people 65 and older, who are included in the eligible population denominator, county officials said, in anticipation of opening vaccine to this population in Maricopa County and to include those who were vaccinated at stateoperated sites.
Maricopa County calculated the eligible population on its ZIP code data map using U.S. Census projection estimates by age and occupation for 2020 using software from Esri, the California-based geographic information system company.
The estimates come from statistical trends of population and occupation growth, plus raw numbers from the 2010 U.S. Census. County officials say they are confident in the way the eligible population was calculated.
The vaccine rollout in Arizona and nationwide has been hindered by low
supply, but President Joe Biden announced last week that he’d secured deals for an additional 200 million doses across the country, which was expected to speed up immunizations.
As distribution amps up, the Maricopa County demographic data provides an opportunity for fixing the barrier that Humble believes is causing the disparity: an online registration process he describes at the state level as Darwinian because he believes it favors high income people.
Humble said his issue with the rollout in Arizona is not so much about race as it is about income, although the two often overlap. People who don’t have an up-to-date computer and fast Wi-Fi are at a disadvantage. Even more at a disadvantage are those without a computer at all.
Most vaccine-related information and registration is on county and state websites. While calling is an option, wait times are sometimes long.
People who aren’t technologically savvy because they never used computers for work, such as those in the 75 and older age group, are often able to have a friend or relative register for them. But if the friends and relatives don’t have up-todate technology or the luxury of a job that allows them to sit at a computer trying to get an appointment for lengthy periods of time, that’s a disadvantage that Humble pins on income, too.
A statewide COVID-19 hotline offers callers help. But the message callers were hearing as of Monday says the hotline does not schedule vaccine appointments, which could cause some people to hang up before reaching someone.
The advice county officials
are giving residents is that for help scheduling an appointment over the phone, people may contact the hotline 844-5428201 number. Press option #8 to reach a navigator. The call line is open Monday through Friday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
For technical issues with the state registration system, they may contact the state at 602542-1000 or by calling 211. The Maricopa County web also lists options to contact locations at: www.maricopa.gov/ 5659/COVID-19-VaccineLocations.
Latino vaccine percentages appear low
While about 12% of all county residents had received at least one shot as of mid-last week, the percentages for racial and ethnic groups differ significantly.
Of those who have received at least one dose and whose race is known, 74% are white, records show. So far, about one in every 11 white county residents had received at least one shot, and nearly one in 20 Black residents had been vaccinated at least once.
The data for the Hispanic population appears to show a low rate of vaccination. Just 2.4% of the county’s Hispanic/Latino population, only about one in 40 of the overall Hispanic/Latino population, had received at least one dose, according to the data. However, ethnicity (Hispanic/Latino or not) is unknown for 56% of those vaccinated.
It’s possible that the percentage of Hispanic and Latino county residents who have been vaccinated is higher because the unknown factor is so high.
But Berta Carbajal, who founded a network of Arizona community health workers, said she’s not surprised by what the data has shown so far. Latino families were hit hard by COVID-19. They are grieving, still recovering from the two waves of pandemic illness, and need vaccines available close to home, she said.
Many people living in lower income and minority neighborhoods, including Spanish speakers, are still in shock over losing loved ones, said Carbajal, a research specialist at Arizona State University’s College of Nursing & Health Innovations.
“I really believe more simple information and an acknowledgment that we have a community in pain and fear would help,” she said. “I had issues navigating the freaking system and I consider myself tech savvy. It’s not being made easy enough.”
Carbajal is founder of the Promotores HOPE Network. “Promotores de
salud” are lay health workers who work in Spanish-speaking communities and are also known as promotoras.
Some families in Maricopa County don’t know the vaccines are free, she said. Others are still dealing with the aftereffects of the virus, she said both physically and financially. Some are fearful of the medical system and already feel overwhelmed by hospital bills rolling in from COVID-19-related treatments, she said.
Carbajal is working with county officials on a program to create a callin option for people seeking vaccines staffed with bilingual community health workers who can assist with registration and vaccine education.
“Community health workers are the frontliners in the community. We are the bridge. We hear the concerns and the myths, and on the vaccine, more education needs to get out, especially the ZIP codes that aren’t responding,” she said.
“We need to let people know the vaccine is not going to give you a dose of the virus . ... They need to get the information from people and places they trust.”
County officials say that just 3% of Hispanic or Latino adults are over the age of 75, whereas 10% of non-Hispanic or Latino adults in the county are 75 and older.
“This highlights the difference in life expectancy between ethnicities, which is in itself a health disparity, and also helps explain why there is a difference in our current vaccination rates between these two groups,” Fields Moseley, a county spokesperson, wrote in an email.
“As younger populations become eligible to receive vaccine in Maricopa County, we think some of this gap will shrink.”
Ron Coleman, another county spokesperson, said the public health department knows that “reaching diverse communities is a national issue” and that the department is working on programs to communicate and work with “hard to reach communities.”
Efforts include developing vaccine-related materials for various audiences, providing information in different languages and working with community leaders to reach various populations like seniors, refugees and non-English speakers.
Native American and Alaska Native residents have high vaccination rates
Asian and Native American demographics in the county data showed high percentages of vaccination. About 10% of Asian residents have received at least one shot, and nearly 16% of Native American or Alaska Native residents had received at least one shot.
The high Native American percentage — at almost twice the rate of white people — may be in part due to federal and tribal efforts to vaccinate community members in addition to county efforts.
“Public Health is focused on ensuring equitable access to the vaccine across racial and socioeconomic levels,” county officials said in a news release. “The data dashboard shows these efforts are helping to make vaccine available to those who might not otherwise be able to get it.”
Some areas of the county showed more than 100% of eligible populations receiving at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine.
There are two explanations for that. One is that some winter visitors may not be included in Maricopa County populationlevel data because the data are based on where a person lives most of the time, Coleman said.
The other reason is that indigenous tribes and others who use a federal vaccine supply do not need to follow county vaccine schedules, Coleman said. The ZIP code map percentages are based on the eligible population according to the county rules.
The map shows 326% of the eligible population in Fort McDowell has been vaccinated, for example. That’s likely because the Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation northeast of Phoenix has opened up vaccinations to members 18 and older, and the county percentages are based on estimates of the priority group population numbers allowed to receive a vaccine at this point in time as a denominator.
Similarly, the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community in ZIP Code 85256 has expanded vaccinations beyond the county’s priority groups, which is likely why their vaccination rates are unusually high, too: 122%.
Nearly 44% of Maricopa County residents 75+ have gotten at least 1 dose
Nearly 44% of the 75 and older population Maricopa County had received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine as of Thursday, the demographic data shows.
Those ages 75 and older make up about 28% of those vaccinated in the county so far.
Nearly 430,000, or 12% of adult residents, in Maricopa County had been vaccinated with at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine, and 3.6% of adult county residents have been fully vaccinated with two doses, the data shows.
Maricopa County has the fourth-largest population of any U.S. county — about 4.5 million people. As of Monday, Johns Hopkins University ranked Maricopa County as having the secondhighest number of COVID-19 cases of any county in the country, in terms of raw numbers, at nearly 500,000 cases. Los Angeles County, which has a population of about 10 million, had the highest number, at 1.12 million cases.