Some communities in the Contra Costa province hardest hit by the coronavirus pandemic have received vaccine doses at a slower rate than cities less affected, and white residents are being vaccinated excessively more than other breeds, according to the country’s data. .
Richmond, Antioch and Bay Point have seen about 5% of their residents receive the first dose of the vaccine by Thursday. All three have thousands more COVID-19 positive cases per 100,000 residents than cities like Walnut Creek, Lafayette and Danville, where between 13% and 16% of residents received their first dose.
White residents of Contra Costa County received more than 39,000 first and second doses of vaccine until Thursday, while residents of “Spanish or Latino” received about 12,000 doses, according to provincial data.
These numbers highlight the difference compared to who gets COVID-19. The data show that although Spanish or Latino residents make up 32% of all positive cases in the province, they make up 26% of the population, while white residents, representing 65% of the population, make up 23% of all cases.
There is some overlap between the two groups, as ‘Spanish or Latino’ is listed as an ethnicity and whites are listed separately as a race in the country’s dashboards.
Provincial health officials acknowledged the racial and geographical gaps during a council of supervisors on Tuesday, saying it could not only be attributed to the demographics of the province’s parental homes and health care staff, but also to difficulties in reaching residents hard hit. communities, especially those who do not speak primarily English.
“One of the reasons we have put so much staff’s time and emphasis on reaching out and engaging the community is that we historically know that there are communities left behind,” said Provincial Health Director Anna Roth during the meeting.
The issue was first raised by Supervisor John Gioia, in whose district Richmond, El Cerrito and San Pablo exist. Although San Pablo leads the province in COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents, only 8% of residents received their first doses as of Thursday.
“Some communities with color communities with lower incomes are half the rate of these other communities,” Gioia said. “I just want to say that it’s important for me to see.”
The implementation of doses for coronavirus vaccination in the counter-province, which began in December, focused first on frontline health workers and then on employees and residents of long-term care facilities. In January, the province expanded its distribution to all residents aged 65 and over, as well as other essential workers working in the municipal area.
Among those who received doses, about a third were senior citizens, who dr. Provincial health officer Chris Farnitano may explain some of the inequalities at a meeting Tuesday.
“Our older population is skewed more white than the total population, and there is a higher concentration in the central and southern provinces,” Farnitano said.
He later added that about a quarter of the country’s vaccine supply went to distribution partners such as Kaiser Permanente, Sutter Health and CVS Pharmacy. Health officials are trying to get doses to distribution sites in severely affected communities, he said.
In November, the Board of Supervisors unanimously declared racism a public health crisis, in part because the community of Latinx was excessively affected by COVID-19 due to a lack of access to health care resources.
In the same month, Contra Costa Health Services appointed Gilbert Salinas to serve as the department’s first chief executive officer. Salinas could not be reached for comment Thursday.
Roth said the new service had the task of showing health officials how to reach out to ‘years of marginalized communities’.
“It should not be seen as an extra update or reflection,” Roth said. “It was a deliberate investment.”