![]() "So community leaders have a responsibility to guide the people who look to them for leadership and the right decision." "It's absolutely critical because everyone does not have the same information flow," he said. Vagianos said when community leaders take the time to speak to their fellow residents and address their concerns about vaccinations, it can make a big difference. But my people have been with me for decades and they trust me, and I told them I'm not asking them to do anything that my family has not done." "They didn't fully understand the severity of the situation. "That was, for some, a bit of a struggle," he told ABC News. He owns a Greek restaurant in Ridgewood, and he required every employee to get vaccinated and boosted against COVID. Paul Vagianos, a Ridgewood councilman, believes strongly in the importance of local leaders helping increase vaccination rates among people of color and overall. "We really focused on partnering with local organizations - community agencies, houses of worship - to really extend the message, how important it is to be vaccinated and to try to overcome some of the historical issues of trust that these communities have had," he said. ![]() Garrett said Hackensack Meridian Health also partnered with trusted organizations with communities of color to improve vaccination rates. About 89% of Teaneck residents have had at least one dose of the vaccine.Īlmost 60% of Black New Jersey residents have at least one dose, health department data shows, higher than the nationwide average of 57% according to KFF. ![]() "We would have never gotten to the great numbers that we did if we didn't make concerted efforts to reach people," Rice said. ![]() Leaders created targeted information campaigns that relied on trusted community doctors to be the voices on vaccines, the virus and safety precautions, according to Rice. Rochelle Walensky said in a statement at the time.Ĭommunities are trying to improve access to COVID vaccinesĪfter seeing the disproportionate effect COVID-19 had on racial and ethnic minorities, local initiatives in Teaneck aimed to address the issue. "The pandemic illuminated inequities that have existed for generations and revealed for all of America a known, but often unaddressed, epidemic impacting public health: racism," CDC director Dr. In April 2021, the CDC declared racism a public health emergency, saying it was not the virus itself responsible for these disparities in deaths and impacts, but rather racism from medical, social and political institutions. This gap has since closed dramatically to 82.9% of Black Americans fully vaccinated compared to 83.5% of whites as of March 2022. In May 2021, 44.2% of Black Americans were fully vaccinated compared to 55.8% of white Americans, CDC data shows. Research showed Black people were more likely than whites to live more than 10 miles from a vaccine facility.Īngus Mordant/Bloomberg via Getty Images, FILEĮfforts to improve vaccine access have since turned the tide on poor vaccination rates among Black Americans. A July 2021 report from the National Urban League found even though the percentage of Black and white people who were vaccine-hesitant or refuse to get the vaccine were about the same, vaccination rates were still much lower among Black populations.ĭisparities in COVID-19 vaccination rates highlighted inequities in vaccine distribution and access for Black populations, according to the National Urban League report. These disparities continued into the vaccine rollout. "It was disproportionately people of disadvantaged backgrounds, and minorities were disproportionately represented" among COVID-19 patients at Holy Name. "It became clear in our area that certain demographics were being hit much harder than others," Saggar said. They are also more likely to live in multigenerational houses, where it would be difficult for a sick patient to isolate, the Pew Research Center reports. People of color were also more likely to have jobs during the pandemic that didn't allow them to work from home, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which increases their exposure. ![]()
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