African Americans are Lagging in COVID-19 Vaccinations

African Americans have a high COVID-19 death rate. The APM Research Lab reports a black American COVID-19 death rate of 155.2 per 100,000 compared to a white American rate of 120.9 per 100,000 (through Feb. 2). The black population is younger than the white population, so it is useful to calculate age-adjusted rates to see how these groups would compare if they had similar age distributions. When the APM Research Lab calculates the age-adjusted rates, black Americans are found to be twice as likely to die from COVID-19 as white Americans.

In addition to physical distancing and wearing face masks, vaccination is one of the most important steps to protect black lives. The early data suggests that African Americans are lagging in receiving vaccinations. The data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that although African Americans have made up 15 percent of all COVID-19 deaths, they have made up only 5.4 percent of people receiving a COVID-19 vaccination (Figure). This is the largest gap by racial group.

As bad a picture as this paints for African Americans, the situation may be worse. There is only data on the race of the vaccine recipient for 51.9 percent of the people. There is only data on the race of the deceased for 74 percent of the COVID-19 deaths. Because of this missing data, we don’t have a full and accurate measure of the disparities.

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Update: The correlation between the percent of the state population that is black and the COVID-19 vaccination rate was short lived. Unfortunately, as discussed above, there is much stronger evidence of a black-white disparity in vaccinations now.