Only about a third of Latino and black Californians have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, while the majority of white and Asian American residents of the Pacific Islands have, according to an analysis by the Times.
That study found that 33% of the state’s Latino residents and 34% of black Californians have received at least one dose. In contrast, 50% of white residents, 46% of Native American Californians, and 60% of Asian American residents of the Pacific Islander have received a dose.
The Times analysis further found that people living in California’s most deprived areas, ranked according to a variety of economic and social indicators, were also less likely to have received an injection.
Only about 39% of Californians living in the state’s most vulnerable areas have received at least one vaccine; on the contrary, 62% of residents living in the most favored areas have received an injection.
State data also shows that younger California adults have been less likely to get a dose. While 80% of older people and 70% of those between 50 and 64 years old have gotten a vaccine, 53% of younger adults, up to age 49, have received at least one injection.
There are also geographic disparities.
San Diego and several Bay Area counties, including San Francisco, Santa Clara, San Mateo, and Marin, have reported that about 60% of their residents have received at least one dose. Los Angeles has reported that 49% of its residents have received an injection; Orange and Ventura, 51%. But in Riverside, only 40% of residents have received at least one dose, and in San Bernardino, it’s 36%.
Rates in rural northern California and the Central Valley are among the worst vaccination rates; Kern and Kings have some of the lowest rates in the San Joaquin Valley, with only 33% and 26% having received at least one dose, respectively.
Officials across the state are launching new efforts, including more mobile clinics, to make it easier for younger Californians and those in the hardest-hit communities to get the vaccine.
Los Angeles Supervisor Hilda Solís said the county is working to improve access to the antigen and is considering outreach ideas, such as hosting vaccination clinics at sports venues where youth are already attending. Solís also urged role models to speak publicly about the need to be inoculated, and family and friends to reach out to their loved ones in this regard.
Los Angeles public health director Bárbara Ferrer was optimistic about interest in the vaccine at a clinic Saturday in Eugene A. Obregon Park, in the predominantly Latino east of the city, where 60% of people who entered were men.
“They brought their friends and frankly they were happy to be there; they felt it was important for them to come and get vaccinated, ”Ferrer said. “But we made it a lot easier at that site: you don’t need an appointment, and the center is in the middle of a community that many people can walk to or take a bus to.”
In the Bay Area, Santa Clara is hosting three “student shot nights” this week at Levi’s Stadium, where the 49ers play, providing walk-in inoculation clinics for students ages 16-19 and their families.
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