Steven Marshall, the former president of American Tower and CEO of National Grid Wireless, has appointed a leadership team to support him in his new role.
April 11, 2021
April 11, 2021
COVID vaccine hesitancy drops among Black Americans, but distance to health care facilities, drug stores still a problem.
SHOW TRANSCRIPT
More than three million COVID 19 vaccine shots in arms each day is the new U.S. average, according to the CDC. As more Americans get the vaccine, the racial divide continues. A February Kaiser Family Foundation study shows about half of black adults say they are not confident in the COVID-19 vaccine.
But access to the vaccine is proving to be another problem in many cities. For the past year, Dr. Rita McGuire has been working inside and out of Roseland Community Hospital. She s been volunteering and teaching predominately Black communities in Chicago about COVID-19 and the vaccines.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – JANUARY 04: Nurse Sandra Lindsay receives the second dose of a Pfizer coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine, at Long Island Jewish Medical Center January 4, 2021 in the Queens borough of New York City. So far, only about 88,000 people have received the vaccine in New York. (Photo by Shannon Stapleton-Pool/Getty Images)
Newsflash: Lots of Black and Brown folks want to get vaccinated, but bureaucratic and technical bottlenecks, like crashing websites and inaccessible vaccine sites, are standing in the way.
The number of Black people who say they would be interested in getting the vaccine has steadily risen. A December poll by the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) COVID-19 vaccine monitor project found that 62% of African Americans say they would probably or definitely get vaccinated against COVID-19 if given the opportunity; a 12% increase from the same September 2020 survey.
Just 37% of the 600 doctors, nurses and support staff at Roseland Community Hospital have been vaccinated even though health care workers are first in line. Many holdouts come from the mostly Black, working class neighborhoods surrounding the hospital, areas hard hit by the virus yet plagued with vaccine reluctance.
The irony hasn t escaped organizers of a vaccination campaign at the 110-bed hospital, which until recently was overflowing with coronavirus patients. If seeing COVID-19 up close and personal isn t enough to persuade people to get vaccinated, what will?
The resistance confounds Dr. Tunji Ladipo, an emergency room physician who has seen the disease devastate countless patients and their families, and frequently works side by side with unvaccinated colleagues.
February 13, 2021 Share
In a makeshift vaccination center at a safety-net Chicago hospital, a patient services aide ushers an older woman with a cane toward a curtained cubicle.
“Here, have a seat right here,” Trenese Bland says helpfully, preparing the woman for a shot offering protection against the virus that has ravaged their Black community. But the aide has doubts about getting her own inoculation.
“It’s not something that I trust right now,’’ says Bland, 50, who worries about how quickly the COVID-19 vaccines were developed. “It’s not something that I want in me.’’
Just 37% of the 600 doctors, nurses and support staff at Roseland Community Hospital have been vaccinated even though health care workers are first in line. Many holdouts come from the mostly Black, working class neighborhoods surrounding the hospital, areas hard hit by the virus yet plagued with vaccine reluctance.