Vulnerable groups still falling behind in vaccination effort

Via Roll Call:

The Biden administration has argued it can distribute the coronavirus vaccine both quickly and equitably, but federal data shows little progress in getting doses to minority communities as states prioritize getting shots into as many arms as quickly as possible.  Health care providers in Minnesota, for instance, must use 90 percent of their coronavirus vaccine doses within a 72-hour window — or risk of having their next shipment reduced. Nneka Sederstrom, chief equity officer at Hennepin Healthcare, said the hospital system has to find a balance between appointment-based signups that favor wealthier, whiter residents and active outreach to the minority populations they serve, all within three days of receiving each dose.  “It is hard to be contentious when everyone believes it is the right thing to do,” Sederstrom said.   Georgetown Law School professor Lawrence Gostin said people should not be surprised the default method for distributing vaccines — online signups for centralized locations with fixed hours — gives an unequal result.