The Department of Veterans Affairs has fully vaccinated more than 1.5 million veterans so far, and those doses have been delivered without the hesitancy from communities leaders were expecting, including veterans of color.
Dr. Ernest Moy, executive director of the Veterans Health Administration Office of Health Equity, said the department is seeing "good uptake among all racial and ethnic groups" and by both men and women veterans so far.
While some VA facilities have opened COVID-19 vaccine access to veterans of all ages, some are still working through age-based priority groups, so much of the tracking VA has done for its vaccines is by age group. But the data so far shows that some veterans of color are even outpacing white veterans when it comes to getting vaccinated.
In the highest priority group, veterans 75 and older, 51% of Black veterans have received vaccinations, 48% of Hispanic veterans and 42% of white veterans. In that same age group, 43% of women veterans have received vaccines and 42% of men.
Among those 65-74, Moy said 45% of Black veterans had received vaccinations, 44% of Hispanic veterans and 37% of white veterans. About 39% of women veterans in this age group had received the vaccine along with 38% of men.
For veterans younger than 65 who have received vaccinations because of health conditions that may put them at higher risk for complications from COVID-19, Moy said 21% of Black veterans have received vaccines, along with 16% of Hispanic and white veterans. Among younger veterans, about 16% of women had received a vaccination along with about 17% of men.
"We haven't seen hesitancy emerge so far," based on that data, Moy said. "We so no reduction in uptake at this time point. There's still huge demand for vaccination. When we cut it up, we see very, very good rates across both race/ethnicity and sex."
Veterans of color, especially Black and Hispanic veterans, were also found to be at higher risk for the virus, so VA made vaccine equity a priority, officials said, including holding listening sessions with veterans months before vaccines were approved to address concerns.
"We were concerned that there might be vaccine hesitancy in younger groups -- that they might not even want to hear the information," Moy said. "We've been trying to work to make sure that they are open to receiving that information for a long time."
Veterans of color told VA officials they wanted to hear vaccine information from trusted sources, such as their doctor or other veterans and wanted the information to address tough issues including hesitancy based on past deceptions, abuses and atrocities such as the Tuskegee experiment on Black men.
"People of color have had bad experiences with research and the healthcare system in the past," Moy said. "You have to talk about it. You can't just sweep it under the carpet and pretend it's not there ... It's a hard conversation to have but you have to have it because that is still in the front of mind for many minority communities."
That work appears to have paid off for veterans at VA with the department so far not seeing the hesitancy it expected among veterans of color.
"In communities of color we're actually exceeding what we are in the white population of America," VA Undersecretary for Health Dr. Richard Stone said. "I'm really pleased at how Black and Hispanic veterans are accepting the vaccine."
One group that has demonstrated lower vaccination rates and higher levels of vaccine refusals are "people who live in rural areas," Moy said.
VA Secretary Denis McDonough and Stone have both told members of Congress and reporters in recent weeks that rural veterans are the main concern when it comes to vaccine hesitancy at VA.
"There's not hesitancy (among many veterans) and there needn't be hesitancy," McDonough said during a recent news conference. "We're now seeing 2 million veterans vaccinated with very little associated problems ... We have work to do on rural and highly rural veterans."
The reason for the vaccine refusal in more rural areas is so far unclear, Moy said.
"It's hard to know if the refusal is, 'I don't want the vaccine, period' or 'I don't want to have to drive to an urban area to get the vaccine,'" he said. "We think at least some of it is probably the latter."
As the Johnson & Johnson single-dose vaccine becomes more widely available, Moy said that could help in rural areas, since that vaccine does not require the deep freezing temperatures of the Pfizer and Moderna two-dose vaccines -- making it easier to transport.
"It can just go in your regular clinic refrigerator," Moy said. "You don't need to have a special freezer."
LISTEN NOW on the Audacy App
Sign Up and Follow Audacy
Facebook | Twitter | Instagram