Rep. Karen Bass said she believes “systemic racism” is at least partly to blame for white Americans outpacing black and Hispanic Americans in gaining access to the coronavirus vaccine.
“People are having difficulties getting online,” Bass said during a Sunday interview on CNN. “Individuals … who are white, are coming into inner-city areas they probably have never been in before, seeking vaccines.”
Rep. Karen Bass believes “systemic racism” is playing a role in vaccine distribution.
“People are having difficulties getting online.
Individuals…who are white, are coming into inner-city areas they probably have never been in before, seeking vaccines.” pic.twitter.com/EROM6TuGyY
— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) February 28, 2021
Bass was responding to a question about vaccine distribution so far, with host Dana Bash pointing out that white people are receiving the vaccine at double the pace of black people and triple the pace of Hispanic people.
While Bass acknowledged that people weren’t “deliberately withholding vaccines” from minorities and there was “vaccine hesitancy” among some in the population, there is a problem when it comes to minority “access” to the potentially life-saving medication.
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“There are problems, there are problems because of access,” Bass said. “Because the way you access the vaccine is online. And so it is failing African Americans, and what I believe we need to do is we need to move and expand beyond online registration. There needs to be community registration. There needs to be mobile sites.”
Bass also pointed to a city council member who does phone banking in inner-city neighborhoods, so only the people in those neighborhoods know when the vaccine is being distributed in their area.
The comments came after Dr. Anthony Fauci said last week that he does not believe the vaccine rollout is currently failing African Americans, pointing to steps the Biden administration has taken to ensure the black community has access to the vaccine.
“I don’t think you could say that it’s failing African Americans. We have a situation in the United States that is historic,” Fauci said. “We are trying our best and, in some respects, succeeding because we’re putting a lot of effort into reaching out to the African American community.”
“In fact, finally, President Biden has established an equity task force to make sure that there are not inequities in the availability and the outreach to the African American community,” Fauci continued.
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But a poll released by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research earlier this month shows a high amount of hesitancy in the black community to take the vaccine when compared to other racial groups. Only 57% of black respondents said they would definitely get the vaccine, compared to 68% of white respondents.
