The New Jersey Department of Health reports nearly 2 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been distributed throughout the state, but not equally among its communities.
According to state data, Blacks make up about 15% of New Jersey's population but have gotten less than 4% of the COVID-19 vaccines. That number is only slightly higher for New Jersey's Latino communities, at around 5%.
People who self-identify as white have received about 55% of the COVID-19 vaccine doses. Montclair State University's Center for Cooperative Media hosted a virtual meeting on vaccine disparities.
Public health experts say the inequalities are a combination of many factors that include scarcity of vaccine, the digital divide, and lack of transportation. Rural areas like Western New Jersey have limited resources to get people to and from appointments.
Amanda Medina-Forrester, executive director of the Office of Minority and Multicultural Health for New Jersey, said distrust of the medical community is an issue public health professionals are working to combat.
"It is something we are having multiple conversations with. I think this is where it takes a lot of boots on the ground, a lot of our community-based organizations, our faith-based organizations," Medina-Forrester said.
New Jersey's department of health is working with FEMA, a newly-created COVID Community Corps, and influencers, like church leaders, to help get COVID vaccines into underserved areas.
The goal is to have 70% of all New Jersey adults vaccinated by June.
