According to statistics released on Wednesday, vaccination clinics operated by the University of Alabama in Birmingham have given more shots to minorities than the average and national.
About 31 percent of the vaccines delivered by UAB went to minorities, including nearly 21 percent to black patients. Nearly 27 percent of the population in Alabama is black. UAB staff also delivered about 7 percent of the vaccines to Asians and 3 percent to Spanish. The majority, 67 percent, went to white patients. About 69 percent of Alabama’s population is white.
A report by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released in early February found that blacks make up 5.4 percent of vaccine recipients in the first month of vaccinations, among places that tracked racial data.
“From the beginning, we have been purposeful in our planning and outreach to make equity a central focus of our vaccination efforts,” said Dr. Sarah Nafziger, vice president of clinical surgery for UAB Hospital, said. “Although our early results are better than the national average for black communities, we are not satisfied and will continue our efforts to increase the outreach of under-represented groups.”
Minorities are at greater risk than whites if they contract COVID-19 and have complications leading to hospitalization and death. The risk of hospitalization, according to the CDC, is about three times higher for blacks and Spaniards than for whites, and this raises concerns about the slow pace of vaccinations in those communities.
UAB operates three vaccine clinics in the Birmingham area. The most recent site, opened at AH Parker High School, is close to communities that are under service, and is designed to provide photos to people who may not have access to the Internet or transportation. A Jefferson County program offers free or discounted rides to people in the community to vaccination sites.
The winter weather early this week closed some of the transit clinics, but it reopened on Thursday.
According to the Alabama Department of Public Health, nearly 12 percent of the vaccine recipients in the state are black and 55 percent white. But according to the inentdashboard, 28 percent of recipients did not report race.
Staff and volunteers at UAB delivered 59,167 vaccines, making up 10 percent of the total statement value. Nafziger said the health system could increase the number depending on supply.
“We believe we have the capacity to deliver up to 20,000 doses of vaccine per week with the current structure we have in place,” Nafziger said. ‘But we are not getting enough vaccine to provide our sites at that level, and our allocations have declined. We will continue to work with the Department of Public Health in Alabama, and if they give us vaccine, we will deliver it quickly and efficiently to qualifying people. ”