Benjamin Hardy
Arkansas Nonprofit News Network
Although Arkansas’s population is 16% Black, only about 9% of all COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in the state have gone to Black people. The state is 8% Latino, but under 4% of shots given have been administered to Latinos. Out of the roughly 12,000 Marshallese people who live in Arkansas, just 705 had received a vaccine as of Saturday.
Those numbers, retrieved from the Arkansas Department of Health’s COVID dashboard on March 12, are consistent with trends elsewhere. A New York Times analysis of state-level data from March 5 showed COVID vaccination rates among Black and Latino people in all of Arkansas’s neighbors lagged well behind rates for whites.
Senate approves the reworked Medicaid expansion without the work rule
arktimes.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from arktimes.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Oxford American editor Eliza Borné steps down
arktimes.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from arktimes.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
A NEW PLAN: Announced at Capitol today. Benji Hardy photo.
The Hutchinson administration and allied legislators rolled out their plan today for a successor to
Arkansas Works, the Medicaid expansion plan built on a work requirement that was struck down in court and which the Biden administration has said it wouldn’t support.
Advertisement
The governor, Human Services Director Cindy Gillespie, Rep. Michelle Gray and Sen. Missy Irvin outlined the replacement dubbed
ARHome, at a Capitol news conference.
Advertisement
Rather than a strict work requirement for able-bodied adults seeking expanded Medicaid coverage, the state will propose an “incentive” higher-quality private insurance for those who work, are receiving education or doing other qualified activities that aren’t fully fleshed out. Otherwise, people will receive regular Medicaid coverage, which isn’t as broad and isn’t accepted by many providers.
The slow pace of COVID vaccinations
The slow pace of COVID vaccinations
February 28, 20219:33 am
The rate of delivery varies widely. Availability of sufficiently staffed pharmacies is one key factor.
Advertisement
It is not a knock on drug stores to note this. It is worth noting the relatively high rate, more than 17 percent of people have had a shot in Pulaski County, where there are some first-rate pharmacy distribution setups along with mass delivery by Baptist Health and UAMS.
Mass delivery. That is the key. Governor Hutchinson has resisted this and declined to call National Guard to operate such efforts as some states have done. He said supply problems discourage this.