Clearing The Hurdles To Getting People Of Color In Atlantic City Vaccinated Against Covid 19
The Light with Raymond Tyler
Over the next few months we will bring you accurate information about Atlantic City’s and South Jersey’s fight against Covid 19. We will discuss how children have been able to eat without school lunch and the efforts for families to eat with earners out of work. We will discuss the digital divide and how lack of wi-fi and computer access has affected students. We will discuss how some students can try to recover from a year without in person learning and what plans are being made to reach out to students that have given up on school.
Today we discuss the two headed monster of A. vaccine accessibility in Atlantic City and B.How history now impedes the progress which should be gained by the vaccine being available to the black community.
Amanda Medina-Forrester is the executive director of the Office of Minority and Multicultural Health and works for The NJ Department of Health. Ms. Medina-Forrester recently shared NJ statistics that suggest that Covid 19 fatalities are more likely (almost double) if you are Black and (almost triple) if you are latino/hispanic. Ms. Medina-Forrester explained that factors that contribute to these numbers are poverty, access to health care, the fact that many of the daily front line workers in healthcare and public jobs are Blacks and Latino/Hispanics and language barriers.
Ms. Medina-Forrester explained that the goal is to get 70% of NJ vaccinated by the end of June, however efforts are being made to make minority vaccination a priority.
In opposition to these goals is the history of the U.S Government’s indifference to people of color’s health and outright cruelty. For example, The Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male was an ethically unjustified study conducted between 1932 and 1972 by the United States Public Health Service and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. While Tuskegee is the most famous it is not the only event to endanger Black People in the name of science.
Ms. Medina-Forrester admits “There is a lot of vaccine hesitancy in regards to people of color. For every right. History cannot be changed. Every vaccine journey is different. The privileged person has a different experience than somebody who’s not. I think this is where it takes a lot of boots on the ground, a lot of our community based organizations, a lot of our faith based organizations to help.
Kaleem Shabazz is the President of The Atlantic City Chapter of The NAACP. Shabbazz has committed his organization to battle health disparities in Atlantic City long before Covid 19 was the biggest issue on the table. Now with the vaccine still scarce but people of color reluctant, Shabazz has made “Shots In Arms” the battle of the moment. Shabazz like everyone in health, admits to the wrongs of the past but strongly encourages the people of Atlantic City to get vaccinated when it’s available.
Shabazz and The NAACP are fighting the battles of accessibility as well.
Shabazz has fielded complaints that vaccination appointments are mainly available only online and there are no appointments available online. Calling the phone number almost never works. If you get an appointment at the mega site there are issues of transportation and parking. During an hour long discussion Shabazz discussed all of these issues and what he’s working on to clear these hurdles. “We will continue to work with faith based locations such as churches, temples and mosques as they allow people to be vaccinated. We plan to establish pop up vaccination sites in our neighborhoods as soon as humanly possible. Frankly, accessibility right now is a problem and the hurdles that our residents are expected to jump, is unacceptable. Especially with children out of school, people standing in line for food and job/economic uncertainty. WE HAVE TO BRING THE VACCINE TO WHERE THE PEOPLE ARE.” Shabazz knows that getting Atlantic city 100% vaccinated is a long shot even in a city known for gambling but that is what he and The NAACP are aiming for. To that end until the vaccine appointments become easier to acquire, Shabazz has asked that Atlantic City residents (AC residents only) contact him at 609-957-0441 with their date of birth and name. Shabazz has been successfully working with Atlanticare to get appointments for vaccination. He humbly suggests that you first use the website www.Covid19.nj.gov and only contact him if you are unsuccessful there.
We will continue to give you accurate information through reporting via this space and The Light radio program every Friday at 6pm on FM 106.5 WPPM (serving Camden) and Saturday at 12 noon on FM 91.7 WLFR (serving Atlantic City.)
This is part of the reporting fellowship on “Racial Disparities in the COVID-19 Vaccine Distribution” conducted by the Center for Cooperative Media for ethnic and community media in New Jersey.
