"In the UK, about 3% of the population is Black, but only 1.8% of doses have gone to Black people."
Do you think that this is due to specific discrimination in the delivery process, or due to broader underlying inequality? By the second one, I'm thinking mechanisms like
1) more deprived areas getting less vaccine and disproportionately affecting Black people, or
2) Black people having lower life expectancy on average, and therefore fewer falling into the vaccine priority groups based on age.
3) Black people being more likely to be immigrants, and therefore younger (since visa tests exclude most old people because of their overall net cost to public services).
The population pyramids by ethnicity from 2011 are quite different - heaps more old white people than old black people - which would influence the vaccine delivery percentages significantly, from what I understand of the UK's vaccine rollout. Of course, this only begs the question why the population pyramids are so different.
P.S: I'm not claiming any of these mechanisms are true, I don't have the data/context to back them up - just curious if you've explored this direction.
Hey Josh, these are great questions! I think it's a mixture of issues in the delivery process and broader underlying inequalities. While the demographic pyramids are different, there are discrepancies in vaccination rates across race even in elderly people who were all eligible at the same time. In mid-January, 42.5% of elderly white people outside of care homes had been vaccinated, but only 20.5% of elderly Black people (https://www.forbes.com/sites/katherinehignett/2021/02/01/covid-19-vaccines-the-uks-high-vaccination-figures-are-hiding-massive-inequalities/?sh=50e02aa42063). If this were the US, I'd attribute some of that difference to inequalities in the messy booking and distribution systems, but the NHS seems to be doing a fairly good job of reaching out to people when it's their turn to book an appointment; I'm not familiar enough with the system here to speak to healthcare access in underserved areas, though.
However, vaccine hesitancy is more prevalent among communities of color, and this is where your point about Black people being more likely to be immigrants is important, since it means that they need different resources than are provided. That Forbes article mentions a woman who wanted information about vaccine safety in Bengali and wasn't able to find it; if the get-vaccinated campaigns aren't something you can access or trust, you're less likely to get vaccinated. When you combine the lack of resources, historical abuses in the healthcare system, and the interconnectedness of these communities, it's far easier for vaccine misinformation to spread and be believed. It really speaks to the need for targeted campaigns to ensure that all communities have the resources they need, both vaccine-wise and information-wise.
Yea, that's a good point, I hadn't really considered the information / disinformation side of things. Thanks for the article link, it was an interesting read.
Nice article =)
"In the UK, about 3% of the population is Black, but only 1.8% of doses have gone to Black people."
Do you think that this is due to specific discrimination in the delivery process, or due to broader underlying inequality? By the second one, I'm thinking mechanisms like
1) more deprived areas getting less vaccine and disproportionately affecting Black people, or
2) Black people having lower life expectancy on average, and therefore fewer falling into the vaccine priority groups based on age.
3) Black people being more likely to be immigrants, and therefore younger (since visa tests exclude most old people because of their overall net cost to public services).
The population pyramids by ethnicity from 2011 are quite different - heaps more old white people than old black people - which would influence the vaccine delivery percentages significantly, from what I understand of the UK's vaccine rollout. Of course, this only begs the question why the population pyramids are so different.
(http://www.cpa.org.uk/information/reviews/theageingoftheethnicminoritypopulationsofenglandandwales-findingsfromthe2011census.pdf)
P.S: I'm not claiming any of these mechanisms are true, I don't have the data/context to back them up - just curious if you've explored this direction.
Hey Josh, these are great questions! I think it's a mixture of issues in the delivery process and broader underlying inequalities. While the demographic pyramids are different, there are discrepancies in vaccination rates across race even in elderly people who were all eligible at the same time. In mid-January, 42.5% of elderly white people outside of care homes had been vaccinated, but only 20.5% of elderly Black people (https://www.forbes.com/sites/katherinehignett/2021/02/01/covid-19-vaccines-the-uks-high-vaccination-figures-are-hiding-massive-inequalities/?sh=50e02aa42063). If this were the US, I'd attribute some of that difference to inequalities in the messy booking and distribution systems, but the NHS seems to be doing a fairly good job of reaching out to people when it's their turn to book an appointment; I'm not familiar enough with the system here to speak to healthcare access in underserved areas, though.
However, vaccine hesitancy is more prevalent among communities of color, and this is where your point about Black people being more likely to be immigrants is important, since it means that they need different resources than are provided. That Forbes article mentions a woman who wanted information about vaccine safety in Bengali and wasn't able to find it; if the get-vaccinated campaigns aren't something you can access or trust, you're less likely to get vaccinated. When you combine the lack of resources, historical abuses in the healthcare system, and the interconnectedness of these communities, it's far easier for vaccine misinformation to spread and be believed. It really speaks to the need for targeted campaigns to ensure that all communities have the resources they need, both vaccine-wise and information-wise.
Yea, that's a good point, I hadn't really considered the information / disinformation side of things. Thanks for the article link, it was an interesting read.