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By Andrea Shalal and Julia Harte
WASHINGTON, 28 Feb. (Reuters) – The initial delivery of the newly approved vaccine Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 should begin on Tuesday, senior officials from the Biden administration said on Sunday, saying they hope to increase the delayed vaccination rates among minorities. Officials acknowledged that the vaccination rates among black and brown Americans “are not where we want to end up,” but said measures had been taken to increase the numbers, and minorities were trying to ensure the vaccines were safe. Federal officials also closely monitored the distribution to ensure it was fair, they said. “Although we know that the data is not complete, we are seeing these early patterns that indicate that black and colored Americans are being vaccinated largely at a lower rate than the general population,” said one official.
Officials did not provide any information on the differences, but KFF, a health policy and research organization, found that people of color get smaller vaccinations compared to their share of the population. In Alabama, for example, black people account for 27% of the population and 31% of deaths due to COVID-19, but only 17% of vaccinations.
U.S. officials have said they respect the concerns of some Black Americans, given the history of past inequalities and “serious unethical conduct,” including the Tuskegee study in Macon County, Alabama, in which federal health officials denied treatment to black men. has to study syphilis from 1932. to 1972.
However, they stressed the importance of all eligible vaccinations for control of the pandemic as soon as possible, and said that great efforts had been made to ensure that black and colored people were adequate at every stage of the vaccination process. be represented.
“It is critical for people to understand the guarantees that exist around this clinical research, but also the diversity and representation at the level of the scientist, at the level of the policy makers and those who review this data, as well as the participants in clinical trials, ”said one of the officials.
Up to 400 community vaccination centers have been placed in areas with a large minority population, and officials will use mobile units to reach more people. They added that flexible working hours would also be critical.
“We have instructed states to manage the distribution of all (three) vaccines in a fair and equitable manner, and we will continue to monitor them closely,” said a second official.
The Johnson & Johnson vaccine involves only one shot, not two, and it can be more easily distributed as it does not require a freezer, but federal officials have said all three vaccines should be made available equally in communities and across the country. . (Reporting by Andrea Shalal and Julia Harte; editing by Daniel Wallis and Diane Craft)