Equity effort ramps up in Shelby
Early data shows racial gap in vaccinations
Early COVID-19 vaccination data in Shelby County shows a significant racial gap — far more white residents have received the vaccine than Black residents. The Shelby County Health Department said the data is not yet robust enough to signify a racial disparity.
That data comes just a few weeks into vaccinations beginning in Tennessee’s largest county, which has nearly half of the state’s Black population.
So far, twice as many white residents, 5,417, have received the vaccine compared to 2,548 Black residents. That means 51.9% of people receiving
the vaccine are white and 24.4% are Black.
A further 23.7% of people, or 2,475, have their race listed as other. And 4,929 people did not list their race at all, according to Shelby County Health Department data.
Those early numbers, which will likely change over time, are in a county where 54% of the population is Black. Among ethnicity data, about 1.6% of people who have received a vaccine are identified as Hispanic. Shelby County is 7% Hispanic, according to the U.S. Census.
That data is only current through Jan.7 and includes information on about 15,000 people who have been vaccinated. Much of the vaccine data is likely from Memphis hospital systems. Local hospitals began vaccinations 10 days before the Shelby County Health Department and have administered more doses than the health department. The Baptist and Methodist hospital systems have not released vaccination data by race or ethnicity.
On Thursday, Shelby County Health Director Alisa Haushalter said she didn’t think the early data rose the level of a racial disparity.
“At the current time, we can’t calculate that it is a disparity…. What I can say is that we know longterm, we have to put mechanisms in place to assure people access, and that people have information to make an informed decision,” Haushalter said.
The health director said the department’s lack of racial data for some first responders, means that the current data isn’t complete enough to reveal a racial disparity. However, Haushalter said the department is working to build out vaccination infrastructure that has equity at its center.
Haushalter said, “…We will also aim over many months, because I said this is a long campaign, to continue to have various sites in different communities. And we can use some of our existing data around burden of disease, social vulnerability, and so on to identify where those sites should be. With that said, no system is ever perfect. And so we will always look at what we’re doing and what we can improve, to be able to reach various communities.
Local doctors push need for more data
Dr. Stephen Threlkeld, co-chair of the infection control program Baptist Memorial Hospital Memphis, said Wednesday that it is imperative that race be recorded accurately, noting the number of people who did not give the county racial information.
“Without knowing who’s getting it, it’s harder to know how to fix the problem... If we don’t know if it is being equitably administered or not, we can’t figure out why that is and how to fix it,” Threlkeld said. “If people of color are not getting access to the vaccine, that needs to be fixed. And if we don’t know if that’s happening, that’s also a problem that needs to be fixed.”
Threlkeld said, “There are several factors that are very important. People of color have taken more of a brunt of the cases, of the deaths,” he said. “Anything that we don’t know yet about who’s getting the vaccine, how they’re responding, what happens, all of that is potentially important. We don’t yet know what is important.”
During the pandemic, death rates from COVID-19 have fallen along racial lines — 57% of COVID-19 deaths are among Black residents when they make up 54% of the population. And 35% of COVID-19 deaths have been among white residents when they make up 34% of the population.
As of Wednesday afternoon, the Methodist system had administered 11,900 total doses, but Dr. Nick Hysmith said Methodist was not releasing a demographic breakdown of the employees who had been vaccinated or what percent of employees had been vaccinated.
Hysmith emphasized the need for vaccines to be administered close to where people live, not at one location.
“As broadly as the community health departments can get out into every community through various means will be key,” he said. “I think it’s going to be key to get the vaccine to the communities, rather than have one or two hubs where people come.”
Haushalter said the health department is finalizing a contract for a vaccination site in Whitehaven, a largely Black portion of Memphis.
“And, once the contract is finalized, we can announce that site. We want that to be a permanent site. It may not be open five days a week, but it’ll be a permanent site. Then we’re also working with other partners to identify some other permanent sites throughout the community. And as I said before, we’ll have some roving sites, so that we make sure that it’s as easily accessible as possible,” Haushalter said.
The health department director noted that there are still constraints on vaccine supply nationwide and how many sites the department opens in the short-term will largely depend on vaccine supply.
“We can’t open up too many sites if we don’t have sufficient supply of vaccines,” Haushalter said.