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By Andrea Shalal and Julia Harte
WASHINGTON, Feb.28 (Reuters) – The first shipments of the newly approved Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine are expected to begin on Tuesday, senior officials in the Biden administration said on Sunday, saying they hoped to increase late vaccination rates among the minorities. Officials acknowledged that vaccination rates among black and brown Americans were “not where we want them to be,” but said measures had been put in place to increase those numbers and sought to ensure to minorities that vaccines were safe. Federal officials were also monitoring the distribution closely to ensure it was fair, they said. “Even though we know the data is not complete, we are seeing these early models that suggest black and brown Americans are largely vaccinated at rates below represented in the general population,” one official said.
Officials gave no data on the disparities, but KFF, a health policy and research organization, found that people of color receive a smaller share of immunizations compared to their share of the population. In Alabama, for example, blacks make up 27% of the population and 31% of deaths from COVID-19, but only 17% of vaccinations.
US officials said they respect concerns raised by some black Americans given a history of past disparities and “grossly unethical conduct,” including the Tuskegee study in Macon County, Alabama , in which federal health officials denied black men treatment for black men to study syphilis from 1932 to 1972.
But they stressed the importance of all who were eligible to get vaccinated as soon as possible, to control the pandemic, and said great efforts had been made to ensure that blacks and Maroons were properly represented. at every step of the vaccination process.
“It is essential that people understand the safeguards that are in place around this clinical research, but also the diversity and representation at the level of the scientist, at the level of decision-makers and of those reviewing this data, as well as participants in clinical trials. One of the officials said.
Up to 400 community vaccination centers have been set up in areas with large minority populations, and officials would use mobile units to reach more people, they said, adding that flexible hours would also be essential.
“We have ordered states to manage the distribution of the (three) vaccines fairly and equitably, and we will continue to monitor this closely,” a second official said.
The Johnson & Johnson vaccine has only one vaccine, not two, and may be easier to distribute because it doesn’t require a freezer, but federal officials said all three vaccines should be available evenly in communities and throughout the country. (Reporting by Andrea Shalal and Julia Harte; Editing by Daniel Wallis and Diane Craft)
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