Health agencies work to ensure communities of color are vaccinated as soon as possible

Health agencies work to ensure communities of color are vaccinated as soon as possible

AVAILABLE TO THE PUBLIC.AS DISTRIBUTION PLANSARE PUT INTO PLACE -HEALTH AGENCIES WANTTO ENSURE MINORITYCOMMUNITIES ARE NOTLEFT BEHIND.41 ACTION NEWSREPORTER SARAH PLAKEEXPLAINS THE EFFORTS TOENSURE EVERYONE WHOWANTS TO GETVACCINATED - HAS THERESOURCES TO DO SO.Plans for the COVID-19vaccine rollout beyond healthcare workers is a work inprogress.But we talked to healthagencies who are keepingcommunities of color in mind.We have a widerepresentation by tribalorganizations, ethnic andracial minority groups.Different socioeconomicgroups and beyond that, faithleaders, medical bioethicists...Because more at-risk groupsare likely to use mass transit,the Kansas Department ofHealth and Environment istargeting transportation hubsto spread information aboutthe vaccine.They are also looking intosending mobile vaccine unitsto communities where manypeople may not have a car.We'll be collaborating with ourpartners.

As time goes on, asthe months go on and there'smore vaccine available, we'lllook and see what gaps needto be filledWe are definitely going to beencouraging people of color toget vaccinated, particularlybecause in our survey resultsthey showed a lot ofhesitance.In this chart, the stateincludespeople at-risk for adversehealth consequences in thesecond phase in late winter..The Lawrence DouglasCounty health department willwork with churches andcultural centers to encourageblack and brown communitiesto get vaccinated within thisphase.We definitely need to berelying on friends and familyand those type of networkingbecause for a lot of people ofcolor, those are trustedsources of information..The Missouri Department ofHealth and Senior Services iswaiting to see what at-riskpopulations will be included inthe second phase, but theiradvisory groups are alsomeeting weekly to discussequity.Mayor Quinton Lucas said thisis a priority because manyblack and brown folks don'thave access to stablehealthcare.I have grave concerns with theFact that if there's a vaccinethat's rolled out it's going togoto the folks that know theinstitutions, folks like me whomay be able to have thatphysician relationship and callin, but what about everybody