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Boulder County looks to address disparities in COVID vaccination rates

Strategies for vaccine distribution do not account for people who lack English proficiency, lack access to transportation and technology, lack documentation or those who do not trust medical organizations, said Sheila Davis, Boulder County Public Health health equity coordinator.
COVID vaccine
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As it focuses on the first priority phases in the state’s vaccination rollout, Boulder County is looking ahead to how to better reach communities of color that have been harder hit by the virus but are being vaccinated at lower rates than the rest of residents.

“COVID has had a devastating impact on our community, but it is having a particularly devastating impact on the Hispanic/Latinx community,” Sheila Davis, Boulder County Public Health health equity coordinator, said during the department’s weekly community COVID conversation on Wednesday. 

Of the 14% of Boulder County residents who identify as Hispanic, 36% account for new COVID-19 positive cases, 41% are hospitalized and 18.5% account for deaths due to the virus, according to county data.

Ninety percent of Boulder County residents 70 or older identify as white and 94% of those individuals have been vaccinated, according to data Davis presented Wednesday. In contrast, people identifying as Hispanic make up 5.3% of the 70 and older group, but only 2.3% of them have received a vaccination.

The reason for the discrepancy is that strategies to roll out the vaccine do not account for people who lack English proficiency, lack access to transportation and technology, lack documentation or those who do not trust medical organizations, Davis said. 

Boulder County is working to build trust among underrepresented communities and help them understand the risks of not receiving the vaccine, Davis said.

“We need to meet people where they are,” she said. 



COVID data

For information on Boulder County COVID cases, deaths, hospitalizations and trends, click here.



The county will use available data to identify vaccine deserts and plans to deploy mobile clinics to reach high-priority communities, Davis said. 

In Boulder County, 21,622 people have received the first dose of the vaccine and 3,901 have received the full course, according to data updated Monday by Boulder County Public Health. 

Statewide, 393,626 people have received first doses of the vaccine and 98,301 have received both doses, according to Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment data updated Tuesday night

Boulder County is able to provide around 22,000 vaccines a week, however, it only receives 800 to 3,000 doses each week, said Jeff Zayah, BCPH executive director. 

How much vaccine the county receives week to week is dependent on state allocations. On Monday, Boulder County Public Health announced it had only received 800 doses for the week. On the same day, Gov. Jared Polis called for the Biden administration to immediately ramp up vaccine distribution to states. 

“Colorado is ready to immediately use three to four times as many vaccines as we are currently getting each week ... The sooner Colorado gets more vaccines, the quicker we can get them into arms, and the faster we can help our small businesses and economy build back stronger,” Polis stated in a news release. We’re ready and welcome renewed federal assistance to get the job done.”

The Biden administration meanwhile has announced it will increase the number of vaccine doses distributed to states, tribes and territories from 8.6 million to 10 million per week for at least the next three weeks. 

Vaccines are distributed based on the state’s prioritization plan, which is in phase 1B focusing on adults 70 and older, health care workers that have less direct contact with COVID patients and first responders. The 1B phase also includes, at lower priority, essential frontline workers in education, manufacturing, food and agriculture, grocery stores, transportation and human services. Those working with the homeless and postal service workers also are included in phase 1B.

2021_01_26_LL_COVID_CO_phase_timeline_12_30_2020The state's COVID-19 vaccine distribution priority plan updated on Dec. 30, 2020. Source: Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment
“We hope to start vaccinating frontline essential workers below the dotted line phase 1B in March,” the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment stated in an email last week referencing the separation of priorities within the 1B phase. “Phase 2 vaccination will follow, but the timeline for that is not definitive.”

As of Thursday morning, Boulder County Public Health reported 17,100 residents had tested positive or were considered probable for COVID, with 454 people hospitalized with the virus. Deaths of those with COVID totaled 230.

 

Across Colorado, there were 390,258 cases and 21,610 hospitalizations as of Thursday morning, according to CDPHE data. Deaths among those with COVID totaled 5,552 and deaths due to COVID totaled 4,881.