Vaccine inequity still a concern

Vaccine inequity, COVID-19 racial disparities and community ambassadors were the topic of discussion during Boulder County Public Health’s weekly virtual community meeting Wednesday. The county also reported 64 new COVID-19 cases but no new deaths or hospitalizations.

During the meeting, BCPH Emergency Management Planner Chris Campbell revealed the community ambassadors that will help address vaccine inequity, COVID19 cases among minority communities and getting these communities educated about the virus and vaccinations.

Campbell said these community ambassadors will be trained in vaccine safety and effectiveness. He also said they will support the minority community by reaching out to connect these residents to mobile and vaccine clinics, but the new partnerships may evolve as new needs arise.

The six COVID-19 virus and vaccination community ambassadors are:

•El Comité of Longmont, which serves the Hispanic and Latinx communities and focuses on advocacy and equity ef for ts,

•2nd Baptist Church, Boulder, a faith-based organization serving communities of color,

•El Paso, Lafayette, a medical clinic ser ves Hispanic and Latinx patients,

•Out Boulder County, Boulder, which serves the LGBTQ+ community and is focused on advocacy and equity ef for ts,

•Intercambio, Longmont, which serves Boulder County’s minority and immigrant families, and

•El Centro Amistad, Boulder, which ser ves Hispanic and Latinx communities and immigrant families with support services.

“This is a long-term approach that we will discuss many times — the education component is critical right now in vaccine equity,” Campbell said. He also said that these strategies and ambassador partnerships rely on the strong trust these organizations have in their respective communities.

“Vaccine mistrust is rooted in political influence, rushed (development), side effects and longterm effects,” Campbell said. He said all of those issues are are key concerns that must be addressed in a language these various communities understand best.

The county will host town-hall style community meetings to address equity topics, concerns

issues and to ask for feedback from the wider community in the near future. They will also create spaces in which English and Spanish speakers and members of the HIV+ community can address concerns.

In Wednesday’s virtual community COVID-19 meeting, BCPH Executive Director Jeff Zayach told attendees that the county data is trending down into the blue zones on the state dial. He also added new cases, positivity rates and hospitalizations remain stable in Boulder County.

Zayach said he expects county COVID-19 numbers to be below last summer’s lows by late March and taper down to nearly no new virus cases by late May. His projections, which come from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation Colorado, also indicated that if current vaccination efforts in the county continue or increase, an estimated 600 residents’ lives could be saved.

However, these projections also indicate that if the Food & Drug Administration approves the pending emergency use authorization application of Johnson & Johnson’s one-shot COVID-19 vaccination within the month, it is possible to save the lives of an additional 400-600 residents. Johnson & Johnson submitted its coronavirus application on Feb. 4, and the FDA is expected to rule on its decision by Saturday.

On Wednesday, Zayach also said estimated transmission control is 83% in the county. The estimated transmissions control data is composed of the previous two weeks’ data based on hospitalizations since the beginning of the pandemic. The current data set about control is from county data from Jan. 23 through Feb. 2.

The county also gave more information about what the new mobile COVID-19 vaccine clinics will provide. In the meeting Wednesday, Campbell said mobile clinics will be provided less than 250 coronavirus inoculations a week and the priority population served by them will be those 65 and older, with limited mobility, such as those in independent living accommodations and mountain communities. Community clinics will be given 250 or more weekly dosages and will serve racial, ethnic and minority communities.

Traditional clinics will continue to serve all eligible residents under the state’s current Phase 1.A through 1.B.2, pending additional guidance from Gov. Jared Polis. The governor is expected to give updates about Phase 1B.3 on Thursday.

The 64 new cases bring the county’s total cases to 18,723. The number of deaths remains unchanged at 246 and the number of hospitalizations remains unchanged at 536. There are 28 residents currently hospitalized with coronavirus. Six residents were discharged Tuesday after receiving COVID-19 treatment.

The University of Colorado Boulder updated its dashboard Wednesday. On Tuesday, there were three positive test results from 147 diagnostic tests and 1,859 monitoring tests. The dashboard showed there are 12 isolation spaces in use, which is 2% of the university’s isolation spaces. Since the start of spring testing Jan. 4, there have been 324 positives from 5,081 diagnostic tests and 31,312 monitoring tests.

Boulder Valley School District updated its dashboard Wednesday. The district reported 17 active cas