Though the number of vaccinated Americans continues to rise, there is still a significant amount of the population that has yet to receive their COVID-19 shots.
And while some have no plans of getting vaccinated for various personal or political reasons, others would like to but are having trouble obtaining or making time for a vaccination appointment.
“Hesitancy makes a better story because you’ve got controversy,” Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, a former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), recently told New York Times. “But there’s a bigger problem of access than there is of hesitancy.”
According to a recent report from the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF), one-third of unvaccinated Hispanic/Latino adults want to be vaccinated soon as possible but currently unable to do so.
Communities of color are lagging behind in vaccination rates. (Chart: KFF)
The report found that the main reasons for Hispanic/Latino adults being unvaccinated include access-related barriers — such as missing work from side effects, worried about paying out-of-pocket for the vaccine, not being able to get the vaccine from a trusted place, or having difficulty getting to a vaccination site — along with fears of being asked to provide legal documentation, especially for immigrant families, and uncertainty over whether or not they’re eligible to receive one yet.
Currently, nearly 48% (about 159.2 million) of the U.S. population has received at least one dose, while 37.8% (about 125.5 million) is fully vaccinated.
When broken down by demographic group, however, there are clear disparities. For example, among the vaccinated population, 61% are white while just 17% are Hispanic/Latino and 12% are Black.
'There are still information gaps'
The coronavirus pandemic has essentially lifted the curtain on the socioeconomic disparities across the U.S.
Communities of color have been disproportionately affected by the virus. The Hispanic/Latino population is twice as likely as their white counterparts to test positive for COVID-19, three times as likely to be hospitalized, and 2.3 times as likely to die from the virus, according to CDC data. The Black and American Indian/Alaska Native communities have similar statistics.
And yet these same groups are the ones who want to be vaccinated, but simply haven’t yet.
In March, three of the main reasons why individuals were unvaccinated were financially related: Fears of paying out of pocket, missing work from side effects, and taking time off of work just to get the vaccine. These issues haven’t changed much since then.
1 in 3 unvaccinated Hispanic adults want to be vaccinated as soon as possible. (Chart: KFF)
“There are a couple of things going on there,” Liz Hamel, vice president and director of public opinion and survey research for the Kaiser Family Foundation, told Yahoo Finance. “One thing is that there are still information gaps. People don’t always know where to go to get information.”
That’s part of the reason why so many individuals fear they can’t afford the vaccine, though the vaccine is 100% free for all Americans, documented or undocumented. More than half of Hispanic/Latino adults are unaware that the vaccine is free to all residents, according to the KFF report.
“People are not used to health care being free because we’re used to always thinking there’s a hidden cost in there somewhere,” Hamel said. “I think that’s part of it."
Ballpark officials walk by a sign advertising free COVID-19 vaccines at before the game between the Rochester Red Wings and the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders at Frontier Field on May 18, 2021 in Rochester, New York. (Photo by Joshua Bessex/Getty Images) ·Joshua Bessex via Getty Images
Adding to the cost confusion, particularly for uninsured individuals, is that most vaccine providers have asked people for health insurance information when they sign up for their shots. The reason why providers ask is so the insurance companies can be billed for the cost of the vaccines, otherwise the federal government covers the cost for those who do not have coverage. But not everyone is aware of the process, which is why many have misinterpreted the question.
“Even though the vaccine is free, regardless of whether or not you have health insurance, this can create confusion for people,” Hamel said. “They may try and go sign up and see that they’re asking for health insurance and think ‘I don’t have insurance, that means I’m going to have to pay for this.’ So I think there are a lot of different elements to that confusion about whether you’ll have to pay for the vaccine.”
Reasonable solutions
There are several possible solutions to remedy this issue, at least for the Hispanic/Latino population.
Hamel proposed employers offering paid time off for their workers to get the vaccine and recover from any side effects, providing financial incentives for getting vaccinated or bringing medical providers to the workplace to administer the vaccines there so employees wouldn’t have to worry about traveling to a site.
According to the KFF report, 40% of Hispanic/Latino adults said they’d be more likely to get vaccinated if their employer arranged for it at their workplace (that way it's somewhere they trust) while roughly 60% said that vaccine requirements for travel would make them more inclined to get it.
Caren Stewart holds her arm after receiving a Moderna COVID-19 vaccine at a drive through vaccination clinic for employees of Port Canaveral, workers at local hotels and restaurants, and residents of the Port Canaveral community. (Photo by Paul Hennessy/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images) ·SOPA Images via Getty Images
“People who may be busy or working multiple jobs or have kids to take care of — to make it accessible in places where they already are,” Hamel said. “Then I think there’s a role for certain requirements — requiring vaccines for people to travel internationally or to get on an airplane or to attend an event. We find that these are things that some Hispanic adults said would make them more likely to go out and get vaccinated.”
The most important thing, according to Hamel, is ensuring that the public is being properly informed about every facet of vaccination distribution.
“It’s necessary to now start pulling out all the tools in the toolbox to address both access concerns and information gaps, as well as answering people’s questions about vaccine safety and side effects,” Hamel said. “Addressing those concerns in terms of increasing confidence in the vaccine, all of those strategies are going to be necessary in order to get as many people vaccinated as possible.”
Adriana Belmonte is a reporter and editor covering politics and health care policy for Yahoo Finance. You can follow her on Twitter @adrianambells and reach her at adriana@yahoofinance.com.
