Racial disparities in Milwaukee's vaccine rollout
MILWAUKEE - Even as Wisconsin now leads the country in daily administered doses of COVID-19 vaccines, there are still concerns about how equitable that rollout has been, particularly among minority communities in Milwaukee County who have been hardest hit.
When it comes to serving the underserved in Milwaukee County, federally qualified health centers are serving thousands.
"We’re making sure that those folks get in and get vaccinated," said Dr. Anthony Linn, Outreach Community Health Centers chief medical officer.
"There’s the want," said Allison Kos, Progressive Community Health Centers chief medical officer. "We just have to tweak the access component."
In Milwaukee County, data Monday, Feb. 8 showed more than 73,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses administered, but so far just 7% reaching the arms of Black residents and 5% of Hispanic or Latinos, whereas about half the county is white, more than a quarter Black and 15% Hispanic.
"Initially, there is an overabundance of ethnic minority populations, disenfranchised populations who really do want the vaccination," said Tito Izard, M.D. of Milwaukee Health Services.
Milwaukee Health Services, Inc. has about 3,000 patients over 65 and in the first round of vaccine allocation received 40 doses.
Izard said vaccine number disparities boil down to three areas, lack of black representation in health care -- as health care workers were first in line for vaccines; a vaccine distribution plan that focused on equality, not equity among communities hardest hit by hospitalizations and deaths and a rollout that failed to account for transportation or technology limitations in those communities.
"We need to be cautious when we use the term ‘vaccination hesitancy’ when we haven’t met the need of people who are currently asking to be vaccinated," Izard said.
"There are people that want it," said Kos. "They just don’t have the means to get here."
Over at Progressive Community Health, vaccines go into arms as quickly as they come in the door.
Outreach Health officials have been reaching out to patients, hoping to serve as ambassadors to others to get them in the door.
"So far, our staff has been really dedicated to this and really successful at it," Linn said.
Time will tell just how successful efforts are -- whether health care gaps are bridged or they widen even further.
Interim Milwaukee Health Commissioner Marlaina Jackson says systemic racism underlying health outcomes evidenced by higher rates of illness among African Americans.
"When we look at individuals access to good jobs, to good environments, to good water, to good schools, to access to get to their doctor, to their trust levels with their doctor, all of these play into the complexity of why numbers look the way they look," she said.
Community Health Center leaders hope that the disparities in the vaccination numbers start to normalize as vaccine allotments grow, more vaccines come online for use and distribution is streamlined, but that through all of that, serious thought needs to be put into how communities get equitable shares of vaccines to serve the most vulnerable populations.
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