The vaccination rate among Blacks lags others. Local coalition seeks to shift that paradigm.
The Los Angeles County Public Health Department reported 378 new Covid-19 cases among Blacks (down by 81). The County also recorded 10 deaths among Blacks since last Tuesday (down by eight souls).
In Los Angeles County the total number of diagnosed Black cases are 45,333 with 1,838 deaths. Current Covid-19 cases and deaths among Blacks are at the levels experienced in the fall of 2020 before the surge. New cases are decreasing at a slower rate than experienced after the January 2021 peak.
Black Women Rally for Action – Los Angeles County, is a coalition of individuals and groups who provide a mechanism for Los Angeles County Black women to advocate on behalf of their health and well-being.
The coalition, which does not accept government grant funding, is dedicated to advancing health, economic, and social equity for all Los Angeles County Black women through direct action and connection to effective resources. In April 2020, the group launched a COVID-19 social media outreach campaign to prevent and reduce Covid-19 impact in the Black community.
Black Women Rally for Action will be working with partners to ensure that Blacks are not left behind when Covid-19 is no longer in the headlines. Blacks were left behind during the crack epidemic, HIV/AIDS epidemic, discrimination, racism and bias, the 1992 Los Angeles uprising, homelessness, unemployment, health outcomes, and mass incarceration.
According to the State of California, 5.3% of the residents in Los Angeles County receiving at least one dose of a vaccine was Black. The Los Angeles County Public Health Department reports that Blacks have the lowest vaccination rate among 16-year-olds and older who received at least one dose of a vaccination (30%).
(chart of different ethnicities and their respective vaccination rates)
As the chart notes, African American vaccination rates—from teenagers to adults—lag significantly compared to their White and Asian counterparts. Almost by half the amount. When it comes to the elderly, Blacks are doing better with regards to vaccinations, but the gap persists compared to other ethnicities.
Some of the steps being taken by Black Women Rally for Action is posting pertinent COVID-19 vaccine info on their Facebook newsfeed, and encouraging their viewers to get vaccinated.
Furthermore, their leaders make statements like the following to make it clear they won’t stand for racial disparity: “With all of the problems with the rollout of the County vaccine program, we are asking that the County release race/ethnicity, age, and gender vaccination rates,” said Brenda Watson, co-chair of Black Women Rally for Action – Los Angeles County. “In July 2020, the County Board of Supervisors established an antiracist and racial equity Los Angeles County Policy Agenda.
Racial equity in the vaccine program is the first test of their policy and we call on the Board of Supervisors to release current vaccination data,” adds Watson.
