SAN DIEGOSAN DIEGO — San Diego health experts who serve some of the communities hit hardest by COVID-19 participated in a discussion Thursday evening on vaccine safety in an effort to boost vaccination rates among Black residents.
According to county data, less than 2 percent of people who have been vaccinated are Black. Experts say that percentage is alarming given the pandemic’s impact on the population.
Black residents for 3.6 percent of COVID-19 cases in the county, and make up nearly 5 percent of the population.
Several doctors and health experts provided information on the science behind the vaccine and identified barriers that could be preventing Black residents from getting vaccinated during a webinar hosted by RISE San Diego, a civic engagement nonprofit.
Dr. Suzanne Afflalo, a family physician for more than 23 years who serves as the medical director with Alliance Health Clinic, said the Black community is at higher risk of developing complications from COVID-19 because African Americans tend to have more underlying health conditions than the general populace. That includes chronic diseases like high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease, lung disease and obesity, she said, which make it more likely an individual with COVID will die or end up in the hospital.
“These are some of the health conditions that put us at more risk,” Afflalo said. “Our body is not at its ultimate, and so the virus attacks our body and it has a system there that is already at risk.”
There are several reasons why vaccinations among Black residents, and minorities in general, are lagging. Those include lingering questions about vaccines, lack of access to them and a general hesitancy.
Dr. Jeannette Aldous, clinical director of infectious disease at San Ysidro Health, said there are questions that people need to discuss with their doctors and there are myths that hurt the community.
Patients often ask if they can get the vaccine if they have underlying health conditions, she said, but those concerns should be discussed with their doctors.
Then there are myths about microchips, she said.
“There is some misinformation out there trying to sort of keep you from getting what you deserve and need,” Aldous said.
Black doctors and health experts are serving as trusted messengers to educate the community about the vaccine. Afflalo said it’s important for medical professionals to give people time, answer their questions and let them know that the vaccine is safe.
“It’s just a matter of decreasing the fears that they have, reassuring them that things are actually fine,” Afflalo said. “They do respect us. We are all trusted messengers, and that’s where our voice needs to be centered.”
The speakers said that although there are efforts to open testing sites in communities that have been hit hardest, such as the South Bay and Southeastern San Diego, it’s important to make those appointments available to people who live in those communities.
“In addition to structurally putting the sites at certain locations and being systematic about that, we also have to overcompensate for … hesitancy, English speaking, or geographical needs,” Dr. Sayone Thihalolipavan, a medical consultant and public health doctor for the county.
The county and partners have to be creative to get to certain populations and address hesitancy proactively.
“Addressing all of these at once, and together, really will help us get to an equitable distribution,” Thihalolipavan said.
Other speakers included Keisha Robinson, associate Director in Medical Genomics Research at Illumina and Raenique Madden Bowman, with the County of San Diego’s T3 Rapid Response Team. The event was moderated by Roxanne J. Kymaani, president of Kymaani Catalyst Consulting.
