Dr. Jerry Abraham is determined to ensure that California’s most vulnerable communities have access to the Covid-19 vaccine.
Abraham has been calling government officials for the past few months to demand the doses of vaccinations for black and colored people in South Los Angeles, which have been hit hard. He developed the vaccination of websites that welcomed boarding patients, offered mass vaccination opportunities with entertainers and the use of mobile vaccination fleets to neighborhoods where residents did not have transportation.
Abraham, director of vaccinations at the Kedren Community Health Center, said he now vaccinates 5,000 people a day and fills a void in a community that could otherwise be neglected.
“We have broken down every barrier that exists between people and their vaccines,” Abraham told CNN. “No appointment, it’s OK. No internet or email, phone or transportation, can not walk, talk or see, can not speak English, undocumented, homeless – none of those things were obstacles.”
California remains one of the states with the worst differences in vaccinating its Latino population despite efforts such as Abraham and a nationwide mandate that allocates 40% of vaccine doses to underserved communities.
According to state data, 20% of vaccine doses were administered to Latinos, making up 39% of the population and 56% of cases.
And 3% of the vaccines were administered to black people in California, making up 6% of the population and 4% of cases. White people have meanwhile received 29% of the vaccines and make up 20% of the cases and 37% of the population.
Health advocates say incorrect information about the vaccine and lack of access were the main reasons for the racial inequalities in California.
Now they are appealing to the state and its partners to advance the vaccination efforts in color communities to prevent inequality from growing when all adults in California are eligible for the shot on April 15th. Some fear that residents with reliable internet, transportation and the ability to work will continue to outperform poor black and Latino communities hardest hit by Covid-19.
California officials exploded earlier this year when a vaccine program intended for the elderly living in black and Latino communities was abused by outsiders who needed the special group codes to plan appointments.
Government Gavin Newsom responded by saying that the group codes were being abused and that the program would switch to individual codes. About a week later, Newsom’s government announced that it had set aside 40% of the vaccine doses for severely affected communities.
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