In a statement to WebMD, Katie Fowlie, CDC public affairs spokesperson, said:
“It is important to understand that the vaccine delivery process is complex and requires strong collaboration and partnership with all parties at the jurisdiction, local and federal levels. CDC works closely with jurisdictions to ensure that as much information as possible is transmitted and provides regular feedback to states on data quality. “
The CDC, she said, provides weekly summaries highlighting priority issues and shares strategies for addressing specific issues, “including completeness of data reporting on race, ethnicity and residence. This has led to improvements in the reporting of these data elements in several jurisdictions. “
Benjamin believes the main mistake was not doing things justice.
“When we were structuring our vaccination plans, we didn’t put justice first,” he says. “The Biden administration has certainly started this, but we knew this was going to be a problem last fall and yet we didn’t think about it – we, I mean the universal we – didn’t think about how should we colored communities especially African Americans who seemed most reluctant at the time, how can we vaccinate them? “
Ultimately, he says, “We focused very much on the problem of hesitation and not nearly enough on the structural problem, and yet we always knew the structural problem was there.”
These problems include access to the Internet and a computer to make online appointments. “And yet that’s exactly how we decided to get people to register immediately. And that initially created structural inequality. “
Marcella Nunez-Smith, MD, Chair of the White House COVID-19 Health Equity Task Force, says although the data is incomplete, progress has been made.
“Since January, the quality of the data we have on race and ethnicity has definitely improved, and that’s important, but it’s still not what it really needs,” she says.
“The fact that we didn’t have complete data didn’t stop us from developing a justice-based campaign to ensure that federal vaccination channels are in the hardest-hit neighborhoods and communities, and those initiatives are at greatest risk her goal successfully achieved. “
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