{"id":108507,"date":"2021-03-03T12:19:47","date_gmt":"2021-03-03T12:19:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/?p=108507"},"modified":"2021-03-03T12:19:47","modified_gmt":"2021-03-03T12:19:47","slug":"in-covid-vaccination-race-no-one-especially-the-most-vulnerable-should-miss-this-shot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/politics\/in-covid-vaccination-race-no-one-especially-the-most-vulnerable-should-miss-this-shot\/","title":{"rendered":"In COVID vaccination race, no one, especially the most vulnerable, should miss this shot"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of President\u00a0Joe Biden’s favorite COVID-19 lines\u00a0works\u00a0both as a\u00a0rebuke of his predecessor and a clear plan of<\/strong>attack\u00a0<\/strong>against the virus going forward:\u00a0“It’s one thing to have the vaccine. It’s another thing to get it in people’s arms.”<\/p>\n

Truer words never spoken.\u00a0But the reality is that six weeks into Biden’s term, even with three vaccines now available after emergency approval Saturday of the single-dose Johnson & Johnson shot,\u00a0it’s still another thing to get it in people’s arms.<\/p>\n

More than 50 million Americans have received at least one vaccination, at\u00a0an average of\u00a01.82\u00a0million shots a\u00a0day in the past week. That’s plenty to meet Biden’s December pledge of 100 million\u00a0injections\u00a0in his presidency’s first 100 days, but far short of the 2\u00a0to 3 million shots per day needed to reach herd immunity this year. (Biden flirted in January with raising the goal\u00a0to 150 million in 100 days, but backed off.)<\/p>\n

Most likely to get sick and die<\/h2>\n

Meanwhile, distribution has been cruelly uneven, cheating many of the people most likely to get sick and die out of a lifesaving immunization. This\u00a0includes older Americans too befuddled by complex\u00a0sign-up processes, essential workers too busy to keep refreshing websites for the elusive\u00a0<\/strong>vaccination slot, and minority and rural\u00a0communities too inaccessible for distribution.<\/p>\n

Racial disparities have been jarring, according to Kaiser Family Foundation data: 40%\u00a0of California residents who are Hispanic made up more than half of the\u00a0state’s COVID-19 cases and 46% of the deaths, but they have been only 18% of those vaccinated. Black people make up 30% of Maryland’s population, 33% of COVID-19 cases and 35% of deaths, but they have been only 16% of those vaccinated.\u00a0By contrast, white residents have received vaccinations at a percentage higher than their proportion of the population in most of the 34 states tracking the data.\u00a0<\/p>\n

How could this happen?\u00a0<\/p>\n

Look at what unfolded in Washington, D.C., when 7,000 vaccinations for people 65 and older were rolled out:\u00a040%\u00a0were snapped up by residents of the city’s whitest and wealthiest ward that had suffered only 5% of the district’s\u00a0COVID-19 deaths. Experts speculated the disparity was because wealthy residents had\u00a0more time and were more computer savvy when it came to grabbing online appointments, and Black and Hispanic communities were more skeptical about the vaccine.\u00a0<\/p>\n

‘Let’s not let COVID get us’<\/h2>\n

An equitable vaccination protocol can\u00a0be disrupted many other ways:\u00a0By a\u00a0persistent anti-vaccine mindset. Or a historical hesitancy about government-driven health initiatives (as happens in the Black community). Or poor access to good health care and transportation.<\/p>\n

Leaders at all levels need to be more imaginative about more thoroughly and equally distributing the vaccine. One good start recently was a plea by the nation’s first Black and South Asian vice president, Kamala Harris, urging people of color to take the vaccine: “Let’s not let COVID get us.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

President-elect Joe Biden receives his second Pfizer vaccination on Jan. 11, 2021, in Wilmington, Delaware. (Photo: Alex Wong\/Getty Images)<\/span><\/p>\n

Biden should also set a more aspirational, if risky, goal of 2 to 3 million vaccines a day, something that could deliver the nation herd immunity by summer.\u00a0<\/p>\n

States and communities are working on ways to\u00a0target\u00a0hard-to-reach communities. In addition to mass vaccination sites and distribution through pharmacies, there’s a Bronx initiative to set up vaccination sites in public housing. Fairfax County, Virginia, is offering free transportation to vaccine sites from far-out neighborhoods. Baltimore officials plan to go door-to-door to reach the elderly in housing projects. In Montgomery County, Maryland, health officials are prioritizing ZIP codes with high infection rates.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The new single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine that can be stored in a common refrigerator would be well suited for the offices of family doctors and community clinics. And to avoid instances where people game the system to cut in line, communities could offer a one-time sign-up with a weighted lottery for a more fair distribution.<\/p>\n

The reality is that while COVID-19 rates have sharply declined, they remain as high as they were last autumn. And in many areas, the\u00a0fall-off has stabilized. The nation is in a\u00a0race against time as new, sometimes more dangerous, virus strains emerge every week.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It’s a race where no one, particularly the most vulnerable, should be left behind.\u00a0<\/p>\n

USA TODAY’s editorial opinions are decided by its Editorial Board, separate from the news staff and the USA TODAY Network. Most editorials are coupled with an Opposing View, a unique USA TODAY feature.<\/i><\/p>\n

To read more editorials, go to the Opinion front page or sign up for the daily Opinion email newsletter. To respond to this editorial, submit a comment to letters@usatoday.com.<\/i><\/p>\n

Source: Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of President\u00a0Joe Biden’s favorite COVID-19 lines\u00a0works\u00a0both as a\u00a0rebuke of his predecessor and a clear plan ofattack\u00a0against the virus going forward:\u00a0“It’s one thing to have […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":108506,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nIn COVID vaccination race, no one, especially the most vulnerable, should miss this shot - Fin2me<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/politics\/in-covid-vaccination-race-no-one-especially-the-most-vulnerable-should-miss-this-shot\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"In COVID vaccination race, no one, especially the most vulnerable, should miss this shot - Fin2me\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"One of President\u00a0Joe Biden’s favorite COVID-19 lines\u00a0works\u00a0both as a\u00a0rebuke of his predecessor and a clear plan ofattack\u00a0against the virus going forward:\u00a0“It’s one thing to have [...]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/politics\/in-covid-vaccination-race-no-one-especially-the-most-vulnerable-should-miss-this-shot\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Fin2me\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-03-03T12:19:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Mark\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/cfntalkfotoc150c1f0-1c1a-4a19-b43d-50ec46856275-Biden_vaccinated.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Mark\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/politics\/in-covid-vaccination-race-no-one-especially-the-most-vulnerable-should-miss-this-shot\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/politics\/in-covid-vaccination-race-no-one-especially-the-most-vulnerable-should-miss-this-shot\/\",\"name\":\"In COVID vaccination race, no one, especially the most vulnerable, should miss this shot - Fin2me\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2021-03-03T12:19:47+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-03-03T12:19:47+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/#\/schema\/person\/ad0e9920e03d3b41c7ad02a18375d76a\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/politics\/in-covid-vaccination-race-no-one-especially-the-most-vulnerable-should-miss-this-shot\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/politics\/in-covid-vaccination-race-no-one-especially-the-most-vulnerable-should-miss-this-shot\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/politics\/in-covid-vaccination-race-no-one-especially-the-most-vulnerable-should-miss-this-shot\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Politics\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/category\/politics\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"In COVID vaccination race, no one, especially the most vulnerable, should miss this shot\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/\",\"name\":\"Fin2me\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/#\/schema\/person\/ad0e9920e03d3b41c7ad02a18375d76a\",\"name\":\"Mark\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/39b72719fb75a2d3c7d7695026648602?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/39b72719fb75a2d3c7d7695026648602?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Mark\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"In COVID vaccination race, no one, especially the most vulnerable, should miss this shot - Fin2me","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/politics\/in-covid-vaccination-race-no-one-especially-the-most-vulnerable-should-miss-this-shot\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"In COVID vaccination race, no one, especially the most vulnerable, should miss this shot - Fin2me","og_description":"One of President\u00a0Joe Biden’s favorite COVID-19 lines\u00a0works\u00a0both as a\u00a0rebuke of his predecessor and a clear plan ofattack\u00a0against the virus going forward:\u00a0“It’s one thing to have [...]","og_url":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/politics\/in-covid-vaccination-race-no-one-especially-the-most-vulnerable-should-miss-this-shot\/","og_site_name":"Fin2me","article_published_time":"2021-03-03T12:19:47+00:00","author":"Mark","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_image":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/cfntalkfotoc150c1f0-1c1a-4a19-b43d-50ec46856275-Biden_vaccinated.jpg","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Mark","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/politics\/in-covid-vaccination-race-no-one-especially-the-most-vulnerable-should-miss-this-shot\/","url":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/politics\/in-covid-vaccination-race-no-one-especially-the-most-vulnerable-should-miss-this-shot\/","name":"In COVID vaccination race, no one, especially the most vulnerable, should miss this shot - Fin2me","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2021-03-03T12:19:47+00:00","dateModified":"2021-03-03T12:19:47+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/#\/schema\/person\/ad0e9920e03d3b41c7ad02a18375d76a"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/politics\/in-covid-vaccination-race-no-one-especially-the-most-vulnerable-should-miss-this-shot\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/fin2me.com\/politics\/in-covid-vaccination-race-no-one-especially-the-most-vulnerable-should-miss-this-shot\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/politics\/in-covid-vaccination-race-no-one-especially-the-most-vulnerable-should-miss-this-shot\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Politics","item":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/category\/politics\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"In COVID vaccination race, no one, especially the most vulnerable, should miss this shot"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/","name":"Fin2me","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/#\/schema\/person\/ad0e9920e03d3b41c7ad02a18375d76a","name":"Mark","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/39b72719fb75a2d3c7d7695026648602?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/39b72719fb75a2d3c7d7695026648602?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Mark"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108507"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=108507"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108507\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/108506"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=108507"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=108507"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=108507"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}