State pushes vaccination outreach to minorities
PHOENIX – Acknowledging a disparity, the state’s top health official said efforts are underway to get more vaccines into the arms of more members of minority and underserved communities.
Dr. Cara Christ said Friday there are targeted outreach efforts to get the message out to these groups about the availability of inoculations. At the same time, the state is working with members of various groups to build confidence in the vaccine.
The numbers show some notable differences.
According to the most recent Census data, 4.5% of Arizona’s population is Black. But just 1.4% of the nearly 1.1 million doses have gone to that group.
And Hispanics have gotten 8.2% of vaccines administered compared with more than 31% of the population.
Christ said it’s no surprise that race and ethnicity data does not mirror the general population. She said much of this is the result of the fact that the first people to get inoculated were people with specific occupations, including health care workers.
That, Christ said, should resolve itself.
“As we get further into our essential workers and the general population and adults with medical conditions, what we’re hoping to see is the groups that have high risks or more vulnerability, you will see those numbers come up,’’ she said.
Still, she conceded, that’s only part of the issue.
Christ said for some people it’s a matter of transportation. So she said efforts are being made to connect individuals with a way of getting to sites.
For example, she said, the
Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System, the state’s Medicaid program, provides non-emergency transportation. And Christ said community groups are working with rideshare companies, with the idea of arranging rides at the time an appointment is booked.
The state also is on the cusp of having the vaccine available at more sites, including pharmacies at several grocery chains. That minimizes the need to go to one of those drive-thru locations.
And her agency also finally plans to put its online appointment website into Spanish this coming week.
But some of this may remain an unknown, as more than 36% of those who have been vaccinated have not identified themselves by race and ethnicity. And Christ said while those signing people up encourage them to provide that information, there is no requirement.
In a wide-ranging briefing Friday, Christ also said:
- Nearly 1.1 million doses already have been administered, including more than 883,000 individuals who have received the first of the two-dose regimen;
- While the state has asked for more, she anticipates Arizona will be getting only about 170,000 new doses a week through the end of March;
- She remains confident the current vaccines are effective against new strains but said the fact they spread more easily underlines the need for people to get inoculated.
And she said that having the state take over the site at the University of Arizona will result in an initial drop in the number of doses available to other providers in the county. But Christ said she anticipates that will be only a temporary situation.
“What we’re going to be doing is working to expand some hours,’’ she said, by an hour through the “soft launch’’ this weekend and by four to five hours on Monday.
“We don’t have enough vaccine for them to go 24/7,’’ Christ continued. “But eventually what we are hoping will happen is we will start getting enough vaccine where we can give them and Pima County more vaccine.’’
Now the question in Pima and elsewhere becomes convincing people to get inoculated.
Medical experts are unsure what percentage it will take to achieve “herd immunity,’’ the point at which the risk of rapid spread of
COVID-19 is significantly reduced because people either have been vaccinated or who have had the disease and built up antibodies. It seems to vary by disease, with polio in the 80% range and measles at 95%.
Arizona is far from that point. Right now, only about 10% of Arizonans have gotten at least one dose.
That provides some level of protection. But with the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines – the only ones now available – it takes two doses, separated by several weeks, to provide a high level of immunity.
Christ figures the state is averaging about 215,000 doses a week.
At that rate, she said, the state could get to 20% in four weeks and 30% in eight weeks.
And a vaccine for everyone who wants one?
“We’re hoping by the summer we should be in Phase 3, which is where there’s enough supply to meet the demand,’’ Christ said.
The health director said the most recent polling shows about 63% of those questioned say they intend to get the vaccine when it becomes available. She called that “promising,’’ saying that is likely to increase as more people get inoculated and they share their experiences with others.
Still, Christ said, there will be people who don’t want it, even as the federal government continues to allocate based on population.
“So we’ll have excess excess supply,’’ she said.
Christ also said there are “promising things on the horizon.’’
One is that Johnson & Johnson will get a hearing toward the end of the month on that company’s bid to have its own vaccine certified for emergency use.
“That should hopefully make that vaccine, which is a one-dose vaccine, available by the beginning of March,’’ Christ said. “And it will be a wonderful resource for us to get into those hard-to-reach and vulnerable communities if we only need to vaccinate them one time.’’
That plan, she said, includes targeting high-risk zip codes to get the word out.
“We will continue to expand that and work with our local public health departments to make sure that we are messaging messages that are culturally competent, that resonate with those communities, and working through those communities to build trust,’’ Christ said. That will be combined with community-based inoculation centers “so that they don’t need to travel.’’
The nation’s top public health agency said Friday that in-person schooling can resume safely with masks, social distancing and other strategies, and vaccination of teachers, while important, is not a prerequisite for reopening.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released its long-awaited road map for getting students back to classrooms in the middle of a pandemic that has killed nearly 480,000 people in the U.S. But the agency’s guidance is just that – it cannot force schools to reopen, and CDC officials were careful to say they are not calling for a mandate that all U.S. schools be reopened.
Officials said there is strong evidence now that schools can reopen, especially at lower grade levels.
Recommended measures include hand washing, disinfection of school facilities, diagnostic testing and contact tracing to find new infections and separate infected people from others in a school. It’s also more emphatic than past guidance on the need to wear masks in school.
“We know that most clusters in the school setting have occurred when there are breaches in mask wearing,” Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the CDC’s director, said in a call with reporters.
The guidance was issued as President Joe Biden faces increasing pressure to deliver on his promise to get the majority of K-8 schools back to in-person teaching by the end of his first 100 days in office. He acknowledged that the goal was ambitious, but added, “It is also a goal we can meet if we follow the science.”
Biden said schools will need more money to meet the CDC’s standards and called on Congress to pass his COVID-19 package quickly to get $130 billion in aid to schools.
“We have sacrificed so much in the last year,” Biden said in a statement. “But science tells us that if we support our children,
to appear in court.
Biden is quickly making good on a campaign promise to end the policy, which the Trump administration said was critical to reversing a surge of asylum-seekers that peaked in 2019. But the policy also exposed people to violence in Mexican border cities and made it extremely difficult for them to find lawyers and communicate with courts about their cases.
“As President Biden has made clear, the U.S. government is committed to rebuilding a safe, orderly, and humane immigration system,” Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said. “This latest action is another step in our commitment to reform immigration policies that do not align with our nation’s values.”
Asylum-seekers will be released with notices to appear in court in cities close to or in their final destinations, typically with family, administration officials said.
Homeland Security said the move “should not be interpreted as an opening for people to migrate irregularly to the United States.” Administration officials say the vast majority of people who cross the border illegally are quickly expelled under a public health order that Trump put in place in March amid the coronavirus pandemic. But some asylum-seeking families have been released in Texas and California, working against that messaging.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Thursday that she was concerned limited releases in the U.S. may encourage others to cross illegally.
“We don’t want people to put themselves in danger at a time where it is not the right time to come, because we have not had time to put in place a humane and moral system and process,” she said.
Court hearings for people enrolled in “Remain in Mexico” have been suspended since June because of the pandemic. Getting word to them about when to report to the border for release in the United States may prove a daunting job.
Homeland Security said it would soon announce a “virtual registration process” online and by phone for people to learn where and when they should report. It urged asylum-seekers not to report to the border unless instructed.
The International Organization for Migration will help with logistics and test asylum-seekers for COVID-19 before they enter the U.S., spokeswoman Liz Lizama said. The U.N. migration agency’s Mexico director, Dana Graber Ladek, said last month that it would seek to inform and support asylum-seekers on any changes in the “Remain in Mexico” policy.
Roberta Jacobson, coordinator for the southwest border on the White House National Security Council, said asylum-seekers who have been waiting the longest will get priority, along with people deemed more vulnerable due to their health or threats to their safety.
The announcement provides no relief to people whose cases were dismissed or denied, and Jacobson told Spanish-language media that the administration was still considering how to address any cases beyond those that are active. Advocates argue that communication problems, including lack of working addresses in Mexico, caused some people to miss hearings and lose their cases as a result.
Mexico agreed to take
back more asylum-seekers in June 2019 to defuse Trump’s threats of tariff increases. Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador welcomed Biden’s changes, saying at a news conference Friday that it would be “good” for the U.S. to host them instead while their cases wind through the system.
The Remain in Mexico releases will come as more people are getting stopped crossing the border illegally since Biden took office, challenging the administration in its early days.
Raul Ortiz, deputy chief of the Border Patrol, said Tuesday that more than 3,000 people had been stopped in each of the previous 10 days, compared with a daily average of 2,426 in January.
About 50 to 80 adults and children have been arriving daily since Jan. 27 at Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley in Texas, which temporarily houses people released by the Border Patrol, said Sister Norma Pimentel, the group’s executive director. The charity tests for COVID-19 and sends anyone who tests positive to a hotel for isolation.
MELBOURNE, Australia – Novak Djokovic said he tore a muscle during a fall in his five-set victory in the Australian Open’s third round and might need to pull out of the tournament.
His opponent, American Taylor Fritz, wasn’t so sure. He figured Djokovic definitely will be back out there Sunday to continue his pursuit of a ninth championship at Melbourne Park and 18th Grand Slam title overall.
“If he can play like he played in the fifth, I don’t see why he wouldn’t play,” Fritz said. “He’ll beat pretty much anyone.”
The No. 1-ranked Djokovic seemed to be cruising along with a two-set lead Friday night when his left foot gave out from under him as he tried to change directions and he slipped awkwardly on the white “MELBOURNE” lettering at the back of the blue court. He took a medical timeout for treatment on his side and later was helped more by a trainer. Fritz got back into the match, before Djokovic eventually won 7-6 (1), 6-4, 3-6, 4-6, 6-2.
When it ended, Djokovic puffed his chest, held his arms out wide and bellowed, his voice echoing through an empty and otherwise silent Rod Laver Arena. The match began with spectators present, but they were forced to leave a little past 11:30 p.m. – about an hour before Djokovic wrapped up his win – because a local COVID-19 lockdown began at midnight.
During an on-court interview, he was subdued.
And pessimistic.
“I know it’s a tear, definitely, of the muscle. So I don’t know if I’ll manage to recover from that in less than two days. I don’t know. I don’t know. I don’t know if I’m going to step out onto the court or not,” said Djokovic, who is supposed to face 2016 Wimbledon runner-up Milos Raonic with a quarterfinal berth on the line.
“I am just very proud of this achievement tonight,” Djokovic said. “Let’s see what happens tomorrow.”
The only man in the draw with more Grand Slam trophies than Djokovic, No. 2 Rafael Nadal, has been complaining about a bad back since last week. Nadal’s bid for his men’s-record 21st major title – breaking a tie with Roger Federer – continues Saturday in the third round against Cameron Norrie.
Others in third-round action Saturday include
No. 4 Daniil Medvedev, No. 5 Stefanos Tsitsipas, No. 7 Andrey Rublev, No. 9 Matteo Berrettini and the last American man in the tournament, unseeded McKenzie McDonald.
In addition to Djokovic-Raonic, the fourth-round matchups slated for Sunday are No. 3 Dominic Thiem vs. No. 18 Grigor Dimitrov, No. 6 Alexander Zverev vs. No. 23 Dusan Lajovic, and No. 20 Felix Auger-Aliassime vs. Aslan Karatsev, a Russian qualifier who is ranked 114th and making his Grand Slam debut.
On Friday, Djokovic’s match was halted for about 10 minutes while the crowd was cleared out, which bothered Fritz.
“I mean, to be honest – like, completely honest – it’s absolutely ridiculous that at a Grand Slam match, we’re asked to leave the court for 10 minutes in the middle of the match,” said Fritz, a 23-year-old from California who was seeded 27th. “That shouldn’t be a thing at a Grand Slam . ... We shouldn’t have played tonight if we weren’t going to finish the match on time.”
No fans will be allowed at the tournament for at least five days.
“In a way, it’s unfortunate for the crowd that we didn’t finish the match with them seeing the end. They were enjoying it, certainly,” said Djokovic, the champion in Australia each of the past two years. “On the other hand, you know, for me regardless of the crowd in the stands or not, I was just trying to focus on what’s going on with an injury and just praying and hoping that somehow it would get better.”
After his movement and usually strong returns were clearly hampered in the third and fourth sets, Djokovic began to assert himself more in the fifth.
Things swung suddenly back in his favor with a break to 4-2.
“Looked like he was struggling in the third and the fourth, and he didn’t really look like he was struggling in the fifth,” Fritz said. “He looked fine in the fifth. Let’s be honest.”
This setback dropped Fritz’s career record in third-round matches at Grand Slam tournaments to 0-6.
“I make (the) third round literally every single Slam. I just want to make it to the fourth round,” Fritz said. “Like, it’s so tough. I fought so hard and wanted it so bad, and it’s just really tough to go out like that.”