Teen vaccination rates lag in most Massachusetts towns hit hardest by coronavirus: report
Vaccination rates among teenagers are lagging in the same cities and towns that have suffered the most amid the coronavirus pandemic, a new report by equity advocates reveals, renewing calls for officials to prioritize the state’s most vulnerable residents with cases back on the rise.
“We are nine months into the state’s vaccination program, yet we are still seeing the same inequities that plagued the program from the start,” said Dr. Atyia Martin, Co-Chair of the Vaccine Equity Now! Coalition.
A data visualization created in partnership with Boston Indicators revealed inequities in COVID-19 vaccination rates among 12-19 year olds living in different cities and towns. The scatterplot shows many communities with higher cumulative incidences of coronavirus and higher social vulnerability ratings have lower rates of vaccination among youth while more affluent communities that were less affected by the virus have vaccinated teens in higher numbers.
Martin said the chart “shows in no uncertain terms” that many of the state’s most vulnerable communities are still being left behind. A Herald report from this summer revealed many of the same communities now struggling to vaccinate teens were also slower in vaccinating adults despite seeing some of the highest incidence rates of COVID-19 in the state.
“We urge the Baker administration to recognize these inequities and use this data to guide their strategy moving forward as eligibility is expanded even further to 5-11 year olds and to the general public for boosters,” Martin said, calling for more granular data reporting on vaccination rates by race, ethnicity and age.
As of Nov. 18, 74.6% of 12-19 year olds were vaccinated statewide.
New Bedford, Fall River and Springfield — cities the state formerly identified as equity communities due to their high COVID rates — all had teen vaccination rates hovering around 50%.
Swampscott, Arlington and Sudbury meanwhile had teen vaccination rates north of 96%.
The coalition found one city — which it labeled a “notable outlier” — that has managed to buck the trend: Chelsea.
The Boston border city experienced one of the highest incidences of COVID-19 in the state and was one hard hit early on. But Chelsea has a 99% vaccination rate among 12-19 year olds.
Coalition members attribute the city’s near-perfect vaccination rate to Chelsea’s community-led, person-to-person vaccination efforts championed by community organizations, like La Colaborativa.
Chelsea’s outreach efforts “should serve as a model for advancing equitable vaccination strategies across the Commonwealth,” the organization said.
from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/3DZvi1H
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