White Utahns are vaccinated twice as often as other communities. Will new access change that?

People in the Utah ethnic community lag behind the majority of whites in receiving the COVID-19 vaccine, but opening up to all adults in Utah next week could help even at the stadium. There are, say the main doctors.

Dr. Jose Rodriguez, Vice President of Health Inequalities, Diversity and Comprehensiveness at the University of Utah, said: Thursday’s announcement by Governor Spencer Cox on wider access.

Cox said in a monthly press conference that all Utines 16 and older could start booking COVID-19 vaccinations on Wednesday, March 24th. This is more than a week ahead of his previous plan to start the process by April 1.

The white population of Utah has so far been vaccinated with COVID-19 at twice or three times the rate of members of the state’s ethnic community. Utah Health Department statistics.. According to the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute, 90% of Utahns over the age of 65 (the second age group who provided the vaccine after the age of 70) are shy.

According to 2019, the list of currently eligible Utahn includes people over the age of 50, who are 85.8% white. Census data compiled by the Institute At the University of Utah. It also covers people with certain chronic and severe health conditions, such as diabetes, kidney disease, and obesity. In Utah, health care workers, care center residents, first responders, and teachers were first vaccinated.

Rodriguez said he wanted to see a state that “uses race and ethnicity on a prioritization scale,” and the data “show that health alone does not predict bad outcomes.” Added. Other things that predict bad outcomes are race and ethnicity. “

Of the 15,233 Utains hospitalized for COVID-19, 34.1% were of color, accounting for 24.4% of the state’s population. Hospitalization rates for Latin Americans and Pacific Islands far exceed the proportion of the population.

Many states seek to open their eligibility to everyone prior to last week’s call by President Joe Biden to make the COVID-19 vaccine available to all American adults by May 1. I’m in a hurry. According to CNN, Alaska and Mississippi have already lowered their eligibility limits to 16, and Ohio, Michigan, Montana, and Connecticut will soon join Utah to lower their age limits.

One of the risks of opening a lock, the Kaiser Family Foundation’s Gentle Bart Told the press Axios“It will be a little free for everyone, and it will be much more difficult to target the vaccine and ensure that the most vulnerable people are vaccinated first.”

UDOH spokesman Tom Hudachko often sees older children and grandchildren accompanying appointments when healthcare professionals run clinics in vulnerable areas. “It makes more sense to vaccinate children and grandchildren at the same time,” Hudachko said.

According to Cox, the removal of age restrictions allows UDOH and the community health department to enter poorly serviced areas with mobile clinics.

West Valley City Councilor Utah Pacific Islands Health UnionPromoted his city’s vaccination clinic, which was designed to welcome the Pacific Islands community. He said they were running with the help of the Salt Lake County Health Department from early February to Saturday, and last Saturday the clinic armed 900 shots.

At its clinics and other facilities organized throughout the state, members of the Pacific Islands community said, “Helping people go through the registration process, county nurses make our big long with all vowels. I’m there to help spell out my name. ” He said.

“There are no signs that the work on targeted Pacific Islander Americans will be withdrawn,” said Fitisemanu. “With that in mind, we’re not too worried about opening locks or crowding outside the door.”

In Utah County, a Pacific Islands community vaccination clinic is scheduled for March 27 at American Fork, said Oreta Tupola, director of the Health Union.

Some Pacific Islands residents are hesitant to vaccinate because of “sometimes contradictory sources,” Fiti Semanu said.

That hesitation is slowly relieving, he said, “because now we have a credible, credible message coming from community leaders.” He is a congregation of Pacific Islands descent. He said he helped the priests of the church and the educators of the Pacific Islands charter schools to convey those messages.

“Some people are still very scared because they think they will get the virus when they go to the clinic or hospital,” says Tupora. “And they aren’t clear about the vaccine and any side effects. There are still some fears around it, so we’re just trying to give as much information as possible about it. [as we can].. “

The Utah Islamic Center in Sundi opened the door to the COVID-19 Vaccine Clinic on Thursday, providing shots to about 200 people, Imam Shawibbin said.

“It wasn’t just the Islamic community,” Imambin said. “In fact, there was a very diverse crowd …. The word spread so people applied from the Sikh and Hindu communities.”

He said the clinic was a service to the community and a welcome convenience.

“It’s almost like a courier,” Imam said. “It’s happening in your local mosque. People know the layout and know where to park. They feel more comfortable and probably closer to home.”

As of Thursday, 22.8 out of 100 white Utahns have been vaccinated at least once. By comparison, Utah’s Asian population is 11.7 out of 100, Native American and Alaska Natives are 11.3 out of 100, Hispanic / Latin population is 9.1 out of 100, and the black community is 7.7 out of 100. The population of the Pacific Islands is 7.4 out of 100.

Some of that disparity is explained by the relatively young population of Utah’s ethnic community and the impact of Utah’s age-based development. Of the 714,049 Utahns vaccinated at least once as of Thursday, 65.6% were over 50 years old and nearly 86% were Caucasian.

Cox said allowing only people over the age of 50, who currently have an age threshold for vaccination, is particularly restricted in underrated communities. An expert at the Utah Department of Health told Cox, “It’s getting very difficult to choose and choose vaccinated people in the population.”

Vaccination of members of the Utah ethnic community is good for all Utah, according to Cox.

“It’s not just fairness for fairness. It’s important,” Cox said. “In order for us to hit something close to herd immunity, we need to reach these populations in an important way. 70% of the population is not enough, but at 30% and 40%. There are these pockets in. We have to do better. “