Despite the Public Health Department’s ongoing outreach efforts, vaccination disparities in Santa Barbara County remain stark, public officials say.
While about 48 percent of Santa Barbara County’s residents are Hispanic or Latino, this group makes up just 22 percent of those vaccinated as of March 19. White people make up 43 percent of the county’s population, and 31 percent of those vaccinated so far.
However, about 20 percent of the county’s inoculations so far are missing racial and ethnic data. Even so, Public Health Director Dr. Van Do-Reynoso noted at a March 19 press conference that “there are other similar, concerning trends among communities of color.”
One such trend is hospitalization, for which the county has racial and ethnic data for 97 percent of cases. Hispanic and Latino residents in the county make up 67 percent of those hospitalized from COVID-19, despite being only 48 percent of the population, according to the community data dashboard. White people make up 23 percent of those hospitalized, but 43 percent of the population.
“Santa Barbara County Public Health Department is committed to working to ensure all residents have access to COVID-19 vaccine,” Do-Reynoso said. “We have recently partnered with various community groups to offer vaccine to farmworkers and other vulnerable groups.”
The state identified 400 ZIP codes that are in the lowest quartile of the Healthy Places Index, a tool used to see how community conditions shape health outcomes in neighborhoods across the state, according to the index’s website. Communities in the lowest quartile are those that score lowest on the Healthy Places Index, and four of those communities are in northern and central Santa Barbara County: Santa Maria, Guadalupe, Cuyama, and Vandenberg Air Force Base.
Part of the state’s vaccine equity efforts include allocating 40 percent of doses toward these 400 ZIP codes. Though all of Santa Barbara County’s lowest quartile ZIP codes are in north and mid county, a significantly higher number of South County residents have been vaccinated.
According to the community data dashboard, North County residents have received nearly 15,000 doses, mid county just more than 8,000, and South County more than 29,000.
“It is a county’s obligation, through the allocation of vaccines, to allocate 40 percent to those healthy places index, first quartile, as deemed by the state,” Do-Reynoso said. “We used our existing, approved-by-the-state vaccine providers, and increasing allocations to them as we receive from the state.”
In addition to allocating more doses toward these regions, Do-Reynoso said the county’s outreach and education efforts around the vaccine have been primarily focused on northern and mid county.
“I think that a lot of it, some of the barriers, has to do with not being aware of where they can get a vaccine, not being aware that it is available and they are eligible, and not knowing enough about the vaccine,” Do-Reynoso said. “So for that reason, we are partnering with various community partners, trusted leaders, to amp up our messaging around the accessibility, around more information, about the vaccine, just to address those barriers.”
Do-Reynoso also suggested that the disparity might be partially driven by vaccine hesitancy.
“I think that a lot of that has to do with the willingness of community members,” she said. “Perhaps they are not ready to take the vaccine. … We have ramped up our 211 [helpline]efforts to ensure that we can offer assistance in registering community members.”
This article appears in Mar 25 – Apr 1, 2021.
