Vaccine hesitancy beginning to affect who’s willing to get the needle in Pierce County
Vaccine hesitancy is starting to affect who is willing to roll up their sleeve and get vaccinated for COVID-19 in Pierce County, the county’s top public health doctor said Wednesday.
People of color, men and those who are politically conservative are all less likely to get vaccinated said Dr. Anthony Chen, the director of the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department.
He spoke at a round table convened by U.S. Sen. Patty Murray around the subject of vaccine equity.
“Some of it is because of suspicion with the government or suspicion with the health care system, years of past racism, discrimination,” Chen said. “It doesn’t matter where people live, what their political affiliation is. We need to get them vaccinated.”
Pacific Islanders are four times as likely to contract COVID-19 than the white community, Chen said. Black, Native American and Latino people are twice as likely to contract COVID.
Beyond race, vaccine equity concerns itself with income, geography, culture, language and other demographics.
The TPCHD is using multiple strategies to reach different groups, Chen said. On Wednesday, a pop-up clinic was held in the city’s Lincoln District. Other pop-ups have been held in the Hilltop area and Tacoma’s Eastside, among others.
Washington state’s Phase Finder tool was declared dead Wednesday, and there will be few mourners in the public health world, based on comments made at the meeting.
“We’ve never used Phase Finder out here,” said Clallam County Public Health Officer Dr. Allison Berry Unthank. The site’s language, written at an 11th grade level, was inaccessible for some, she said.
“We have one single website that you go to to register, and one single phone number that you call to get a vaccine appointment,” Unthank said. “And that simplicity has really helped with equity in our region.”
Chelan-Douglas Health District director Luke Davies said an increasing supply of vaccines had rendered Phase Finder obsolete.
“We’re still targeting different marginalized populations and providing services to deconstruct those barriers that exist, whether they’re language, technology or transplant,” Davies said.
