Black Americans have been catching the coronavirus, getting severely ill and dying from it, at a rate higher than other racial and ethnic groups in the U.S. Black Americans are also less likely to want to get the COVID-19 vaccine, according to polls. A survey from the Kaiser Family Foundation last month found that around 35% of Black adults are not planning to get COVID-19 vaccines.
Doctors’ offices are overflowing with inquiries from patients who hope to get the vaccine, even though most physicians do not have doses to offer. Overwhelmed with all the requests, staff members in some private medical offices are sending out emails and putting up posters in their offices and notes on their websites making it clear that they cannot provide the shot.
States are rushing to administer the COVID-19 vaccines as fast as possible, and some states have been more successful than others.
North Dakota has one of the best vaccination rates in the country, according to data from the CDC. The state had administered 73.76 percent of the vaccines it had received as of Jan. 12. West Virginia and Connecticut rank second and third, at 64.19 percent and 60.37 percent, respectively. South Dakota comes in at fourth, administering 58.32 percent of distributed vaccines.
Story Date:
January 13, 2021
News Author:
Maia Anderson, Mackenzie Bean and Gabrielle Masson
The vaccine rollout in the United States is progressing — albeit not as quickly as anyone would like. But there isn’t a single “vaccine rollout” — instead responsibility for distributing the vaccines has been delegated to states, and some states are getting shots into arms faster than others. Connecticut is one of those states.
Even as the coronavirus vaccine becomes more widely distributed, lots of Americans say they're still not sure they'll get one.
A December study by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that about a quarter of Americans remain hesitant.
What's the best way to approach the subject with people who remain unsure? NPR's Michel Martin spoke with Nadine Gartner, the founder and executive director of Boost Oregon, a nonprofit focused on educating parents about the safety of childhood immunizations.
As president-elect Joe Biden and his administration prepare to take office on January 20, PCC has prepared a list of policy priorities in primary care that were submitted to Biden's transition team in late December. In sharing the priorities, PCC said that it "is eager to work with the new administration to ensure a strong primary care foundation to serve Americans both during and after the pandemic.
Many medical personnel who care for COVID-19 patients have struggled to get vaccinated. Clinicians in private practice, those who work for staffing agencies and others who are not directly employed by hospitals or long-term care facilities say they have been overlooked in the vaccine rollout...
The virus infecting thousands of Americans a day is also attacking the country's social fabric. The coronavirus has exposed a weakness in many rural communities, where divisive pandemic politics are alienating some of their most critical residents — health care workers.
A wave of departing medical professionals would leave gaping holes in the rural health care system, and small-town economies, triggering a death spiral in some of these areas that may be hard to stop.
Check back regularly for the latest survey results and updates.
For data from the previous survey, see Round 23 Results.
The Primary Care Collaborative is partnering with the Larry A. Green Center to regularly survey primary care clinicians and patients to better understand the impact of COVID-19 in real time.
