Early data: Fewer Black, Hispanic residents are getting vaccines
STAMFORD — For part of a brisk Saturday morning in January, Stamford Health cleared its schedule.
One of the largest hospital systems in Connecticut blocked out just over an hour at its COVID-19 vaccine clinic, and welcomed nonprofit Building One Community and Stamford’s NAACP chapter. Instead of relying on its own system to book Phase 1b appointments, Stamford Health turned to those entrenched in the Black and Hispanic communities to vaccinate about 40 seniors in a push tailored specifically to their needs and anxieties surrounding the vaccine.
Data on what racial groups are getting the vaccine is sparse nationally. Only 17 states report vaccine recipients by race, and Connecticut isn’t one them. But early data suggests that vaccine distribution follows the long-established patterns of heath disparities in the U.S.
In nearby Massachusetts, Black residents — 7 percent of the population — make up only 4.4 percent of vaccine recipients. The outlook is even grimmer for the state’s Hispanic population; they only make up 5.3 percent of vaccinations, but account for close to 30 percent of cases in a state that is 12.4 percent Hispanic.
Stamford Health has yet to compile data on racial demographics for its distribution program, which operates in partnership with the city’s Department of Health, according to communications director Andie Jodko.
“We established this program in response to the data that shows lower vaccination rates among minority groups across the country,” Stamford Health CEO Kathleen Silard said. “We know the disparate impact of COVID-19 on the Black and Hispanic community, so we decided that we wanted to get out in the forefront, to get the word out about how important getting vaccinated is.”
The event attempted to go beyond getting people in the door and, particularly for participants who spoke limited English, attempted to usher them through the process without alienating them from the healthcare system.
“We had our outreach coordinator there, with the orange Building One Community shirt, to make sure it was easy, to make sure people had a familiar face,” said Anka Badurina, president of B1C, which helps connect immigrants in Stamford to a number of services.
While the friendly face helped ease anxieties that day, the organizations took more practical steps too. Recipients were briefed on exactly where to go in the hospital and got a map with directions. For those with a limited grasp of English, an interpreter stood close by to promote clear communication with hospital staff.
Friendly faces also helped Stamford NAACP President Guy Fortt entice people into getting the vaccine. When trying to find participants for the vaccine drive on a short notice, he asked Black faith leaders to spread the word, along with the NAACP’s own network.
Robert Stewart, 75, discovered the vaccination drive through the NAACP’s frantic outreach effort. He was eager to get the vaccine, he said, because he wants to see his 94-year-old mother as soon as possible. Despite his own enthusiasm, Stewart is quick to admit that not everyone feels the same way.
“I would say its 50-50,” he said.
Stewart, who is Black and lives in Stamford, has one friend who won’t put “anything into his body that he doesn’t know what it is.” Stewart said he finds it funny, considering the debauchery he has watched his friend partake in over the years they’ve known each other.
Still, he understands where that impulse comes from. Years of medical abuse, like when U.S. health officials told Black men in Alabama that they were receiving free treatment for syphilis but instead were denied care in the name of research, left legions of Black and brown people wary of medical care.
On top of that, vaccines are just hard to understand. Stewart thinks that healthcare providers should more extensively explain how the vaccine helps the body create white blood cells. In his opinion, a little more information would make all the difference for some.
Church leaders helped get the word out to be people like Stewart fast, and without explaining the science of the vaccine to them beforehand. In part, it’s because their congregants trust them, Fortt said. That trust, he added, is fundamental to vaccinating people of color during a pandemic.
“Trust has to be built,” he said. “And building trust in the middle of a pandemic is a challenge for everyone — For the person that’s receiving it, as well as the person (who) is responsible.”
Fortt admits that webinars and Q&A sessions — which the hospital, state, and city have held in bulk — are helpful, but they cannot replace the kind of community outreach rendered impossible by the very pandemic that makes it necessary.
Stamford Health has already started to see how trust can encourage people of color to get vaccinated.
“We’ve been finding that peer-to-peer (communication) is really helping,” Silard said. Stamford Health cannot force people historically marginalized by healthcare in America to trust the distribution process, she said, but it can make sure that every community has someone who can vouch for the vaccine.
“When 250 people get vaccinated that are part of this group,” she said, “they go back out into their community and say ‘I had it. I’m fine. I am so grateful and happy that I’ve gotten this because I’ve been socially isolated and I haven’t seen my family.’ ”
Of course, trust isn’t the only obstacle in vaccinating those who are marginalized and at risk. A lack of internet access boxes people out of the vaccine system, and it hits older adults, Black people, and Hispanic people in Connecticut hardest.
A 2020 report commissioned by the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities and Dalio Education found that 23 percent of all Connecticut households lack high-speed internet at home, something compounded by race, class, and age.
B1C attempted to bridge the digital divide at the vaccine event by creating email accounts for participants without smart devices or internet at home, since vaccine registration requires people to sign up online.
Still, there’s more work yet to be done, and all the participants from the first event fully acknowledge that. Stamford Health, along with its community partners, committed to holding more of these joint ventures in the coming weeks to keep the momentum going.
In fact, Stamford Health plans to hold another event co-organized with B1C and the NAACP on Monday to keep vaccinations going and spirits high.
“Our intention is to keep it going as long as vaccine supplies are available to us,” Silard said. “It’s just a way for us to have an impact on the outcome.”