The Black community could become even more of an epicenter for the coronavirus if people refuse to take the COVID-19 vaccine, experts said during a recent Ethnic Media Services conference.
As the global coronavirus pandemic continues in 2021, medical researchers said they are not surprised that the United States, California and Los Angeles County are facing challenges distributing the COVID-19 vaccine.
“I think you want to open it up to as many people as possible,” said Robert M. Wachter, a faculty member at the University of California, San Francisco, who is also the chairman of the Department of Medicine.
“I’m guessing we will end up with a lottery of sorts (in California).”
While 20 million doses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines were expected to be injected by the end of 2020, only 5 million people have received a single dose of the two dose vaccine, as of early-January 2021.
Only 25 percent of the COVID-19 vaccines that have been received by the State of California, have actually been administered to residents, according to researchers.
“If we continue at our current pace, it will take well over a year and that’s unacceptable,” explained Wachter, as he spoke with a panel of experts during a recent Ethnic Media Services online briefing.
Wachter said one of the most concerning issues is the fact that some frontline workers across the country are refusing to take the vaccine.
However, this refusal to take the vaccine will have an even bigger impact in the Black community, as African-Americans are more likely than Whites to die from the coronavirus, experts said.
According to L.A. County officials, the death rate among Black residents has gone from less than 1 death a day per 100,000 residents to more than 15 deaths a day per every 100,000 residents, during the current COVID-19 surge.
“It’s going to be really important that all communities feel comfortable taking the vaccine,” Wachter continued.
If not, the Black community could be setting themselves up to be coronavirus hotspots in 2021 and beyond.
“It’s sad in a way, because the Black community is affected more by COVID than other communities,” Wachter said.
However, experts recognize that historical mistrust in vaccines is still top of mind in the Black community.
“By answering people’s questions, we’ve been able to see the needle move,” said Dr. William Schaffner, a professor of Preventive Medicine in the Department of Health Policy, and a professor of Medicine in the
Division of Infectious Diseases at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, Tenn.
Schaffner is an advocate for the community outreach programs that are continuing to encourage more people to take the vaccine. He also believes that letting people who are willing to take the vaccine now will have a ripple effect in influencing the leery to do the same.
“Extend the benefits of this vaccine (to our entire population),” Schaffner said.
Initially, experts said the rollout of this vaccine was treated like the flu vaccine. However, that strategy has been unsuccessful to date.
“I’m not surprised that we’re not doing very well… this is substantially more complicated than (distributing) the flu vaccine,” Wachter said.
“They didn’t prepare sufficiently and that has kind of gummed up the works,” continued Schaffner. He explained things will most likely be different under the Biden administration.
All of the panel experts who spoke continually recommended that the U.S. let more people receive their first dose of the vaccine, instead of reserving vaccines for second doses. However, they quickly added it is still important for everyone to receive both doses of the vaccine, as recommended by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
