Rep. Genade Meng
Grace Mix Remember Asian American voters Democrats see increase in turnout among Asian American, Pacific voters Five-House Democrats could join the Biden cabinet more (DN.Y.) appealed on Sunday Xavier Becerra
Xavier Becerra Goodwin Liu’s background and experience make him an ideal choice for California Attorney General Braun: Biden needs to gradually reconsider the divisive HHS-nominated Xavier Becerra Biden’s cabinet by MORE., President Biden’s nominated Secretary for Health and Human Services, to collect and provide data outlining the demographics of vaccine administration in order to address health inequalities in vulnerable populations.
“Racial inequalities in health, justice, housing, employment and education are deeply and deeply buried in the social fabric of our country,” Meng said in a statement. “Blacks, Asians, Hispanics, Native Americans, other minority groups, the LGBTQI community, and disabled Americans struggled to achieve true equality before the national health pandemic occurred.”
Meng is currently looking for other lawmakers to sign a letter to Becerra, which she plans Monday.
“A national demographic breakdown of administered COVID-19 vaccines is essential for Congress to assess and address where the gaps in the COVID-19 vaccine exist,” Meng wrote. “This information will also be critical to address long – term health inequalities and racial inequalities among vulnerable populations.”
“Everyone needs to be vaccinated, and color communities need to have equal access,” Meng said.
In her letter, Meng inquired about the vaccine administration data received so far from states and territories, whether the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has collected demographic data on vaccines and what the government agency plans to do to address speak. ‘social vulnerability’ in the distribution of vaccines.
Since color communities, particularly black and Hispanic communities, have been excessively affected by the pandemic, the data suggest that they received comparatively smaller shares of the vaccine when comparing more white, richer populations.
Black and Hispanic Americans are more likely to work in jobs that expose them to the virus and are likely to suffer from a severe case of the virus due to underlying health conditions.
Apart from the lack of access, the reluctance of vaccines may also have contributed to the lower vaccination rate in these communities. A recent Pew Research study found that 42 percent of black Americans said they would get the vaccine compared to more than 60 percent of White and Hispanic adults.
Biden’s nominee for Surgeon General, Vivek Murthy
Vivek MurthyBill and Melinda Gates warn that pandemic could ‘trigger’ inequality ‘to name nurse as acting surgeon general: report shows Sunday – Biden agenda, Trump accusation trial dominates MORE, addressed the apparent inequality in an interview last week and appears to have been part of Meng’s call to collect demographic data.
“We already know from the COVID crisis in recent years that there are certain communities that have been hit hard by this virus, that rural communities have had more difficult access to resources, that color communities have experienced more cases and deaths, that the elderly have struggled, especially those in long-term facilities, ”Murthy said.
“We need to make sure we have information on where the vaccine is administered so that we can ensure that it is distributed fairly,” Murthy added.