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News > U.S.

US Lawmakers Denounce Racial Disparity in COVID-19 Vaccination

  • "Black and Latinx, Indigenous, and immigrant communities continue to experience a disproportionate burden of COVID-19 cases and deaths," the letter warns. | Photo: Twitter/@Eugenia_South

Published 28 January 2021
Opinion

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Black and Latino Americans are dying of COVID-19 at three times the rate of white people

Three Democratic lawmakers asked on Thursday the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and other federal agencies to gather demographic data and address racial disparity in COVID-19 vaccinations across the country.

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"Despite the clear vulnerability of people of color in this public health emergency, comprehensive data on the racial, ethnic, and other demographic characteristics of people who have been treated or vaccinated for COVID-19 does not exist," points to the letter sent to acting HHS Secretary Norris Cochran by Rep. Ayanna Pressley, and Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey.

"Black and Latinx, Indigenous, and immigrant communities continue to experience a disproportionate burden of COVID-19 cases and deaths. Since the start of the pandemic, the death rates for Black individuals and American Indian and Native Alaskans have been near twice as high as the death rate of their white counterparts," the lawmakers denounced.

According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Black and Latino Americans are dying of COVID-19 at three times the rate of white people.

"We urge HHS to work with states, localities, and private labs to collect and publish demographic data of vaccine recipients, in a way that protects personally identifiable information, to ensure policymakers can combat health disparities and ensure that resources are getting to communities hardest hit," the letter remarks.

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