Racial disparities of the COVID-19 vaccine by neighborhood

For the first time on Friday, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health released detailed data on the progress of the COVID-19 vaccination effort in more than 340 neighborhoods in the county.

So far, 12% of the county’s 10 million people have been vaccinated, with priority given to health workers, residents of long-term care facilities and people 65 and over.

A closer look at the map shows that these numbers can vary widely from location to location.

In parts of the wealthy Westside like Beverly Hills, 25% of residents have already received the first dose of the two-dose vaccine. In contrast, in South Los Angeles and neighboring cities such as Compton, where incomes are lower and the majority of residents are Latinos, only 5% of residents have been vaccinated.

County officials say these disparities are due to long-standing problems in accessing health care, education and poverty, which government outreach efforts have so far failed to address. overcome.

Areas with the highest numbers of Latino and black seniors have also been among the hardest hit by the coronavirus. A comparison of the new vaccination maps with the spread of the virus shows that areas with the highest case rates have some of the lowest vaccination rates.

“These inequalities are unacceptable and require renewed efforts to ensure access to vaccines for people in the hardest hit communities,” said Barbara Ferrer, head of the county public health agency.

In Beverlywood, which is located south of Beverly Hills, 17% of the population is vaccinated, despite a case rate well below the county average. This affluent predominantly white neighborhood has a comparable number of people aged 65 and over in Commerce, a predominantly Latino, low-income neighborhood in southeast Los Angeles.

In commerce, vaccination rates are half of what they are in Beverlywood despite the number of cases more than double per person.

To address the inequalities, county officials say they plan to send more outreach workers to the field and add vaccination sites in underserved areas. Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti on Friday vowed to expand the fleet of mobile immunization clinics and send them to Pico Union, Chinatown, Vermont Square and other areas.

The new figures released on Friday also included the first look at the ages of those vaccinated so far. Of the 1.1 million first doses administered on February 14, just over half went to people over 65. Forty-seven percent went to under 65, who qualify because of their profession or who acquired vaccines by other means.

County officials were unable to provide data for all ethnic groups, due to gaps in their data collection efforts. No estimate was provided for Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Elders. Some vaccination numbers were also not available for older people identified as multiracial.

Authorities are not yet able to determine where residents were vaccinated at the hundreds of sites across the county, including pharmacies, hospitals and mass vaccination sites such as Dodger Stadium.

County officials have promised to release new numbers every week.