The quest to vaccinate broad sectors of Vigo County residents is making progress, but gaps remain and the outreach must continue. Data from the Indiana State Department of Health and the Kaiser Family Foundation illuminates an area of needed improvement. Those numbers should help redirect efforts.
Statistics show that a smaller percentage of Black residents in Indiana have been vaccinated for COVID-19 than white residents. Statewide, white residents comprise 83% of the state’s population, yet they account for 91% of the vaccinations so far, according to the Kaiser’s calculations. By contrast, Black residents make up 9% of Indiana’s population but only 4% of vaccinated Hoosiers as of Feb. 1.
That disparity shows up on the local level, too.
Vigo County’s 7,931 Black residents constitute 7.4% of the population. Still, just 3.1% of those residents have been vaccinated for the coronavirus, the Indiana State Department of Health reported on Feb. 7. Among the county’s 93,773 white residents, who make up 87.6% of the population, 10.9% have been vaccinated.
State health experts point out some factors that contribute to the imbalance. Historical and ongoing injustices in medical programs leave many Black residents reluctant to participate, a Kaiser survey in December revealed. Also, a higher percentage of Black residents may lack transportation to reach a vaccination clinic.
Also, guidelines in Indiana have initially limited vaccinations to first responders, health care workers, nursing home residents and Hoosiers ages 65 and older, with essential workers under 65, such as those employed in supermarkets, restaurants, retail and public services, yet to come.
Indiana Health Commissioner Dr. Kris Box said the state aims to extend more vaccination centers into neighborhoods, a step to help reach underserved populations. Such measures will be crucial across a state with 6.7 million residents, from Richmond to Terre Haute, and from Fort Wayne to Evansville.
Outreach by Black leaders in Hoosier communities can ease people’s hesitance. That was the case in Terre Haute on Wednesday. Sylvester Edwards, president of the Greater Terre Haute Branch of the NAACP, got his COVID-19 vaccination at the Vigo County Annex. Edwards said he represented the local NAACP and Minority Health Coalition in getting that shot.
Edwards acknowledged some people remain hesitant and mistrustful of medical programs, based on past abuses of Black and minority folks. Nonetheless, as Edwards put it, “This is a war [against COVID-19], and we can’t afford to lose this war.”
Getting more vaccines to minority residents is a priority for the Vigo County Health Department. “Our collaborative goal is to encourage more minorities to receive the vaccine,” Joni Wise, health department administrator, told the Tribune-Star.
The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed the reality of the cliche “we’re all in this together.” The health of our neighbors affects our own health, and vice versa. Strategies to get the vaccines made by Pfizer and Moderna into the arms of every Vigo Countian, Hoosier, American and Earthling deserve support as the mission to quell the virus goes on.
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