Widening COVID-19 vaccination gap encourages Santa Clara County to boost outreach

February 25, 2021

Two months after the deployment of the COVID-19 vaccine, black and Latin populations had significantly lower vaccination rates than the white and Asian communities, with county council members being the most hit population, as data show. You are encouraged to escalate your efforts to reach.

Approximately 31% of black and Latin seniors over the age of 65 have been vaccinated at least once as of Friday. The county data.. In contrast, 57% of older Asian Americans, like 44.7% of Caucasian residents, have taken at least one shot.

County data also show that only 7% of all eligible Latinos, or 28,792 people over the age of 16, were vaccinated. Eligible Caucasian residents are vaccinated more than twice as many as 16.6%, and eligible Asian Americans are 17.8%. So far, California has only vaccinated older people and health care workers.

Childcare, food, agriculture and emergency services educators and workers It will be applicable from February 28th.

Black and Latino inhabitants across South Bay Imbalanced under the influence of a pandemic.. Latin populations make up more than half of all COVID-19 cases throughout the county, even though they make up only a quarter of the population. Black residents make up almost 3% of COVID-19 deaths, even though they account for only 2.4% of the population.

False alarm Long-standing distrust of the government Outreach workers, who contribute to vaccine hesitation in these communities, say that disparities in access, language and technology barriers are also affecting.

“The numbers aren’t terrible, but you can see the gap,” said Dr. Martifenstershake, COVID-19 Test Officer, Santa Clara County, on Tuesday. “These are what we are working on on a regular basis.”

As of this week, more than 272,097 people in Santa Clara County, or 16.6% of the county’s population, have been vaccinated with at least one COVID-19 vaccine. 7% of the population receives both doses, data show. Due to the sharp decline in cases and hospitalizations, county health officials say more than 51% of residents aged 65 and over have been vaccinated.

However, vaccine distribution was not fair among all zip codes. San Jose Spotlight reported..

As of last week, the wealthy and white areas of Almaden, Willow Glen, Los Gatos and Palo Alto have far better vaccination rates of 60% to 70% than the low-income areas of East San Jose and Gilroy. 40%. The gap continues.

The county has launched an outreach program to reach the most hit communities. On Tuesday, Santa Clara County supervisors Otto Lee and Cindy Chavez, who demanded that vaccination data be categorized by census zone and race, called for more aggressive efforts.

They used data and feedback from outreach workers to propose plans to expand their current efforts to reach more inhabitants.

The proposal, unanimously passed on Tuesday, requires two things: with a detailed plan to open more tests and vaccine clinics in areas with high positive rates and relatively low vaccination rates, and in the color community. Advertising campaign to promote vaccination.

“What we found is that there is a lot of fake news in the community and many people are really very worried about the side effects (of the vaccine),” Lee said on Tuesday. .. “We need to do a better job to tell the real facts to the community.”

Chavez added that the campaign would pay for advertising on Spanish-speaking television and radio programs to build trust and trust among skeptical residents. County officials will report on the cost of the campaign at the next meeting.

“The amount of false information we hear through the Ambassador Program is staggering,” Chavez said. “Communities whose second language is English are more vulnerable to this information because there aren’t many modes of information there.”

Suggestions come later Survey The COVID-19 epidemic turned out to remain the most worrying issue for county residents.

The county has provided more than 100 funds since December Outreach workers Visit San Jose door-to-door to promote COVID-19 testing and vaccination. We are currently planning to add another 30 full-time staff to focus on high-risk areas. The county is also expanding its telephone banking efforts to help newly qualified residents book vaccinations.

Local authorities also brought the vaccine closer to East San Jose and Gilroy, Governor Gavin Newsom Prioritizes Vaccines in the Most Damaged Census District..

The county was opened Levi’s Stadium mass vaccination site Released on February 9th Pop-up clinic Last week, we switched between East San Jose and Gilroy.Emmanuel Baptist Church Walk-in clinic This week it will be the second vaccination site next to East San Jose Mexican Heritage Plaza.. A new site will open at Eastridge Mall on March 1st.

With uncertainties about changes in state distribution plans and vaccine availability, Chavez said the proposal would continue to focus the county on prioritizing the most affected communities. ..

“Thank you for your leadership,” said Morgan Hill resident and Board of Education President Claudia Rossi on Tuesday. “In all this darkness, we are very much looking forward to deploying the strategies you are advocating to our community.”

Contact or follow TranNguyen at [email protected] @nguyenntrann On Twitter.