Data shows more Henricoans are providing racial data when vaccinated

Richmond and Henrico Health District officials this week have a better sense about the race or ethnicity of the Henricoans who have received COVID-19 vaccinations than they did two weeks ago.

New data released Wednesday by the RHHD shows that nearly 75% of the 55,000 county residents who had received at least one dose by Feb. 16 had reported their race. Two weeks ago, only about 61% of those vaccinated had done so.

As the percentage of people who haven’t reported their race has dropped, the percentages of the those who have received the vaccine, grouped in one of six racial classifications, all have increased.

The largest increase was among whites, whose totals jumped from 41.9% two weeks ago to nearly 50% Tuesday among people for whom race was identified. That’s nearly equal to Henrico’s overall percentage of whites (53.7%).

Two weeks ago, only 11% of those who reported their race were Black and just 1.8% were Latino. Tuesday, those numbers had risen slightly, to 14.1% and 2%.

But Blacks (29.4%) and Latinos (5.5%) make up nearly 35% of the county’s population, so they still appear to be vastly underrepresented in vaccination data.

Those who are classified as Asian or Pacific compose 8.2% of the county’s population and have accounted for 4.1% of known vaccine recipients to date, up from 2.8% two weeks ago.

Those who placed themselves in the “other race” category compose 3.1% of the county’s population and have accounted for 3% of known vaccine recipients as of Wednesday, up from 2.8% two weeks ago.

Health district officials have been working to proactively reach more Black and Latino communities, prioritizing seniors 65 and older based in part upon race and also proactively inoculating residents of independent senior living facilities, with those served by Medicare prioritized first. They've also held vaccination events at local churches with predominantly minority congregations.

But among those 65 and older, the same disproportionate levels exist: whites (who account for two-thirds of the county’s senior population) compose just more than 60% of those vaccinated who reported their race. Blacks (who compose more than a quarter of the senior population) account for only 12.4% of vaccine doses administered to those who reported their race. About 21% of seniors didn’t provide racial data.

It’s unclear whether the vaccination numbers are lower for Blacks and Latinos primarily because those groups are more likely to be hesitant about being vaccinated or because whites represent a higher percentage of the groups of frontline workers (healthcare workers, educators and public safety officials) who have been vaccinated so far.

As an additional way to fill in the data gaps, RHHD officials have been assigning volunteers at vaccination sites to encourage those who are being vaccinated to complete the racial data before receiving their shots (though they're not required to do so). As people come back for their second doses, the health district also hopes to capture that information from people who didn't previously include it.

Nearly 8,800 Henricoans in their 50s had been vaccinated by Tuesday – the most of any age group, but just slightly. People in their 30s accounted for nearly 8,500 vaccine recipients, followed by those in their 80s and their 60s (each just more than 8,300 people).

Women have been vaccinated more frequently than men in Henrico at a rate of nearly 2 to 1, according to the data.