Report: Number of Black and Latino North Carolinians Receiving Vaccine Shows Improvement

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that the number of Black and Hispanic North Carolinians who received the vaccine against COVID-19 doubled in the span of almost a month. The agency credits the change to a strategy focusing on vaccine equity. 

After realizing that the number of vaccinations was extremely low in Black and Hispanic communities, the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services began implementing strategies such as mapping communities to allocate vaccines in order to match or exceed the population. It also facilitated community partnerships, required vaccine providers to report race and ethnicity for each recipient, and created a public table for accountability.

The proportion of vaccines administered to Black people increased from 9.2% to nearly 18.7%, and in Hispanic communities, it increased from 3.9% to almost 9.9% during March and April of this year.

Inside the organization, there are also two or three meetings per week to speak about the best approach and practices, plus the organization provides tailored coaching to implement these practices.

The report explains the strategies used in North Carolina and requests officials to implement them nationally since Black and Hispanic communities are currently at the forefront of the most affected communities by COVID-19.

Eileen Rodriguez is a reporter for both WFDD and La Noticia through Report for America, where she covers COVID-19's impact in the Latino Communities. You can read this story in Spanish at La Noticia.

Periodista de La Noticia y 88.1 WFDD, Eileen Rodríguez reporta el impacto de COVID-19 en la comunidad Latina en Carolina del Norte. Rodríguez es miembro del cuerpo de periodistas de Report for America 2021-2022