Latino vaccination rates up significantly; Blacks narrowing the gap

Latinos are now significantly more likely to be vaccinated against COVID-19 than other Long Islanders, and the gap between the vaccination rates of Black and other residents has narrowed, state data shows.

In the first few months of vaccinations, Black and Latino Long Islanders were much less likely to be vaccinated than whites and Asians. Public health experts say community-based nonprofits and churches have helped boost those rates, as have vaccine mandates.

"The fact these organizations are in those communities every day is why they’re trusted over other entities," said Melody Goodman, associate dean for research and associate professor of biostatistics at the NYU School of Global Public Health in Manhattan. "They’ve earned that trust by being a consistent presence and advocating and supporting the needs of the community."

Nearly 20% of Long Islanders who have received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine are Latino, according to state Department of Health numbers. Hispanics represent 16.9% — nearly 400,000 people — of the region’s population 15 and older. In late March, fewer than 10% of those vaccinated were Latino.

Since late March, the percentage of vaccinated Suffolk County residents who are African American rose from 4.6% to 7.3%, although that is still below the 8.5% of residents 15 and older who are Black. In Nassau, the percentage of vaccinated residents who are Black increased from 7.3% to 10.9%; 13.1% of the county’s population is Black.

The state as a whole has seen a similar trend: Latino vaccination rates surpassing the overall rate, and a smaller disparity between Black and other New Yorkers.

Overall, Suffolk’s vaccination rate continues to lag behind Nassau’s, a difference experts attribute to Suffolk’s stronger Republican leanings, its lower population density and demographic differences.

Wait-and-see approach

Goodman said one reason the Latino vaccination rate has risen so high is that there have been more efforts to bring vaccines to where there are large Hispanic workforces. In eastern Suffolk, for example, a nonprofit health center sent vans to farms.

In addition, Goodman said the initial reluctance of some Black and Latino people to getting vaccinated wasn’t resistance as much as taking a wait-and-see attitude. "They didn’t want to be the first," she said. "Many more people trust the vaccinations now."

SEPA Mujer, a Patchogue-based nonprofit serving immigrant women throughout Suffolk, enlisted its members to spread the word about the benefits of vaccines to relatives, friends and neighbors, and it trained volunteers of its 24-hour hotline to talk about vaccines, said Martha Maffei, the group’s executive director.

'People felt comfortable to ask questions in an environment they trust.'

-Martha Maffei, executive director of SEPA Mujer

"To have this one-on-one conversation was really important," she said. "People felt comfortable to ask questions in an environment they trust."

Volunteers are Spanish-speaking, so immigrants can get information in their native language, she said. Immigrants not authorized to live legally in the United States, who typically aren’t insured or eligible for government benefits, often worried about getting large bills, so volunteers reassured them that the vaccine is free, she said.

In Uniondale, which is 75% Black and Latino, Pearl Jacobs, president of the Nostrand Gardens Civic Association, said she and other community leaders "know so many people in the community, so we decided the best thing to do was call and have a conversation, and talk to them, and if they did not receive the vaccine, we’d ask why, and what are your concerns. I know I changed some minds."

'I know I changed some minds.'

-Pearl Jacobs, president of the Nostrand Gardens Civic Association

People were more likely to get inoculated at Prayer Tabernacle Church of God in Christ, a predominantly Black congregation in Amityville that hosted vaccination events in the winter and summer, than at government-run mass-vaccination sites because of the convenience of getting the shot in their own community, and because "it was under a pastor, and people trust pastors," said Berrie Ivory, a secretary at the church who volunteered at the events.

About half of those getting vaccinated were not church members, she said.

Mandates push numbers up

Martine Hackett, an associate professor of health professions at Hofstra University, said, "Even if it’s not your church, for you to start to see these institutions supporting the idea of getting vaccinated, that’s going to signal that ‘this is what people like us do.’ Institutions within the community set the tone as to what’s the norm, what’s acceptable, for people who belong to that community."

The growing number of employers requiring vaccinations also has helped push up numbers, Hackett said.

As more people get vaccinated, "You reach a tipping point," she said. "If more people you know are vaccinated, whether it’s because they have to or they want to, it’s going to make it more acceptable for you to be able to do that."

On the other hand, if most people you know are not vaccinated, she said, "There’s no stigma as a result of it, there’s no shaming, you’re in the norm of the people who are doing that. That’s a basic human trait, that we want to be consistent with the people who are around us, and that’s going to influence our behaviors."

Political affiliation, as well as income and educational level, also are linked to decisions on whether to get vaccinated, Hackett said. A nationwide Kaiser Family Foundation survey last month found that Democrats are far more likely to be vaccinated than Republicans, as are college graduates compared with those without college degrees.

The partisan and demographic differences also largely explain why Suffolk consistently has had a lower vaccination rate than Nassau, Hackett said. As of Saturday, 73.9% of Nassau residents were fully vaccinated, compared with 67.3% of Suffolk residents. The statewide rate was 65.6%.

Nassau has higher income and educational levels than Suffolk — although Suffolk's are higher than the state as a whole — U.S. Census estimates show. And while President Donald Trump lost Nassau by nearly 10 points in 2020, he narrowly beat President Joe Biden in Suffolk. Nassau also has a slightly higher share of residents 65 and older, who are more likely to be vaccinated.

Some of the Island’s lowest vaccination rates are in predominantly white areas of Suffolk with lower-than-average income and college-degree levels. Those communities also tended to have smaller increases in vaccination rates over the past several months.

For example, on Aug. 5, Roosevelt’s 11575 ZIP code and Shirley’s 11967 ZIP code had identical rates of 42% of all residents fully vaccinated. But the rate in Roosevelt, which is mostly Black and Latino and heavily Democratic, is now at 59.1%, while the rate for mostly white and mostly Republican Shirley is only 51.8%.

Raymond Keenan, president of the Manor Park Civic Association in Shirley, said whether to get vaccinated has "become not a medical choice. It’s really become a political choice. There’s a feeling that this group of people, which is mostly Republicans, not all, that we’re just not going to take the vaccine, as a political statement."

Disdain for 'the elite'

Messages of disdain for "the elite" from many Republican leaders means some Republicans believe inaccurate information about vaccines on the internet over medical experts, said Sean Clouston, an associate professor of public health at Stony Brook University.

Maura Spery, a former mayor of the now-disbanded village of Mastic Beach, said one reason for the low vaccination rate there is that residents’ lower income and educational levels mean they are less likely to have jobs that require vaccinations.

Joseph Maiorana, president of the Mastics-Moriches-Shirley Community Library board of trustees, said although vaccine mandates may have pushed some people to get the shot, they have dissuaded others.

"Once you start having mandates, I think that boxes people more into a corner, and the mandates become counterproductive, and people become less willing," he said.

Clouston said the lower population density in Suffolk — much of eastern Suffolk is rural — also helps explain the disparities in the counties’ numbers. The Kaiser survey found that rural residents are the group least likely to get vaccinated.

Lisa Black, chief deputy county executive for Suffolk, said the county has had extensive vaccine outreach campaigns, especially in ZIP codes with lower vaccination rates, and has set up vaccination sites at community-based organizations, libraries and firehouses.

"We’ve hit every area where people congregate," Black said.

Nassau’s high median income and educational levels helped give the county an advantage, said Dr. Lawrence Eisenstein, Nassau’s health commissioner. But, he said, "We really focused on where are the gaps," including in majority Black and Latino areas, to push the county’s rate above 96% for adults with at least one shot.

"Getting community leaders onboard is one of the most important things we learned," he said. "It dramatically changes people’s willingness to be vaccinated."

By David Olson

david.olson@newsday.com@DavidOlson11

David Olson covers health care. He has worked at Newsday since 2015 and previously covered immigration, multicultural issues and religion at The Press-Enterprise in Southern California.