The following charts, collected by individual counties and reported to the state, show the percentage of cumulative COVID-19 vaccine doses administered, by race and ethnicity â both statewide and per county.
Vaccine recipients offer this information voluntarily â doing so is not required to receive the vaccine. The data is therefore knowingly incomplete, with a significant percentage of recipients falling into either “multi-race,” “other” or “unknown” categories. Additionally, keep in mind that vaccinations have until recently been limited to health care workers, people 65 years old and older and long-term care residents, so the data largely reflect those populations.
Still, the numbers provide an interesting snapshot of how the very limited supply of the vaccine has been distributed statewide and within each county, as officials continue to grapple with how best to balance equity and efficiency in an exceedingly complex, and often haphazard, process.
In California, similar to the rest of the country, people of color â who are more likely to work in essential jobs and to have underlying health conditions â have been disproportionately impacted by the coronavirus. Yet, some of the state’s most vulnerable populations are also among the hardest to reach. A Public Policy Institute of California survey from February, of the state’s largest racial/ethnic groups, found that African Americans are the least likely to get the vaccine, with only 26% of those surveyed saying they would definitely get it. Meanwhile, 38% of Latinos, 47% of Asian Americans, and 51% of whites said they would definitely get the vaccine.
As significantly more doses become available in California, and public health officials wage public education campaigns in an effort to allay fears, it remains to be seen how wide a swath of the state’s incredibly diverse population will ultimately roll up their sleeves.
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