ANALYSIS: Lack of accesses not hesitancy is why fewer Black Americans are getting vaccinated

Why Fewer Black Americans Are Getting The COVID-19 Vaccine (*No, It’s Not Hesitancy) The early data we have on vaccination rates is incomplete, but one fact is particularly alarming: Black Americans are getting vaccinated at a much slower rate t… Alex Samuels FiveThirtyEight

The early data we have on vaccination rates is incomplete, but one fact is particularly alarming: Black Americans are getting vaccinated at a much slower rate than their white counterparts. This is troubling given how hard the pandemic has hit Black Americans.

But it’s also concerning because people often misunderstand why the rate is lower. Many are quick to point to a distrust of the medical community, as Black people do have a long history of being ignored or actively mistreated by health care professionals in the U.S. — most notably, in the infamous 40-year-long Tuskegee study, which denied Black men treatment for syphilis so researchers could track the natural progression of the disease. But a recent Pew survey challenges the idea that Black Americans are hesitant to get vaccinated: A majority of Black adults (61 percent) told Pew that they either planned to get a COVID-19 vaccine or have already gotten one, a sharp uptick from the 42 percent who said in November that they planned to get vaccinated.

And this reflects what health experts have told me about this issue. They don’t really think distrust of the vaccine explains the large gaps we’re seeing in vaccination rates. What’s more, blaming the gap wholly on distrust is dangerous because it puts the onus on Black Americans around vaccinations and distracts us from the real reasons why the inoculation rate is lower. “The experience of Black Americans within the U.S. health care system has been extremely troubled to say the least,” said Sean Dickson, the director of health policy at the West Health Policy Center. “But we don’t want to rely on the narrative that Black people aren’t willing to get the vaccine,” he said, adding that he thought the real issue was the lack of investment in vaccine distribution in Black communities.

In fact, a recent NPR analysis found that vaccine hubs, particularly ones in Louisiana, Texas and Alabama, were largely missing from predominantly Black and Hispanic communities, while few whiter neighborhoods were without one. And in a national study conducted in conjunction with the University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy, Dickson found that Black Americans in nearly two dozen urban counties in and around Atlanta, New Orleans and Dallas, among a host of other cities, faced longer driving distances to vaccine centers than white Americans.

Even when vaccine distribution centers are more evenly distributed, researchers find that communities of color are still missing out. Residents from wealthier, predominantly white neighborhoods often claim an outsize share of vaccine appointments in Black and Hispanic neighborhoods, using up the available supply. This has already happened in several states, including in California, where outsiders were misusing a program intended to make vaccine appointments available in communities of color.

The fact that vaccine registration systems are largely online is partly to blame, as there is often a racial divide in who has reliable internet access. ...