White people in Kansas got COVID-19 vaccines at higher rate, new data shows
So far, white people are more than 2.7 times more likely to have received a COVID-19 vaccine than Black people in Kansas, according to new Kansas Department of Health and Environment data released Friday.
Hispanic or Latino people are nearly twice as likely to be vaccinated than Black people, the data shows.
Kansas officials announced the new data during a call with elected officials Friday morning. Race and ethnicity data had previously been available on COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths, but this was the first peek into vaccine data.
“We are working with Kansas communities of color to set up culturally relevant outreach to ensure that these communities have access to both the information they need and the vaccination,” Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly said during the call.
Kelly and other officials did not offer an explanation for why white people account for the majority of vaccinations.
A total of 370,500 Kansans have been vaccinated, with around 173,742 having received a second dose.
Here is the breakdown by race:
White: 259,796 vaccines; 102.09 per 1,000 white people
Black: 8,136 vaccines; 37.32 per 1,000 Black people
Asian: 4,629 vaccines; 43.13 per 1,000 Asian people
American Indian or Alaska Native: 1,025 vaccines; 15.82 per 1,000
Pacific Islanders: 202 vaccines
Other race, including two or more races: 38,713 vaccines; 420.51 per 1,000
Race not reported: 57,999 vaccines
Figures by ethnicity show that 25,351 Hispanic or Latino people have received the vaccine, which is about 72.76 per 1,000 Hispanic or Latino people.
Early on in the pandemic, data across the country showed Black people were adversely impacted by the virus. In May 2020 deaths among Black and Hispanic people in Kansas were the worst out of 41 states reporting demographics of death data.
That same data by the UC Berkeley’s Othering & Belonging Institute recently put Kansas at 14th out of 50 states for racial death disparities. Nationwide, COVID-19 deaths among Black and Hispanic people represented more than their share of the population, the data showed. It was last updated in November.
“We’ve talked a lot about race and ethnicity,” KDHE Secretary Lee Norman said Friday. “It’s an important driver because they are at higher risk and harder to reach and we want to make sure that we are attentive to all populations.”
However, current KDHE data shows the virus has caught up to all Kansans. Black and Hispanic people now account for less deaths than their share of the population.
Aside from the “other race” category, white people have the highest death rate at about 144 per 100,000. Black people were second with about 106; Hispanic people were at 88.
U.S. Census data estimates that 86.3% of the Kansas population is white; more than 12% Hispanic and about 6% is Black.
White people account for about 77% of the deaths; Hispanic people make up more than 6% and Black people account for nearly 5%.
Race was not available in 503 of the deaths; or ethnicity in 692 deaths.
Among cases, white people account for nearly 71%; Hispanic people account for roughly 13% and Black people have about 5% of the cases.
This story was originally published February 26, 2021 at 3:20 PM.