For the MS Coast, here’s a breakdown of COVID vaccination rates by race and ethnicity
Data from the health department shows South Mississippi’s coronavirus vaccination rates lagging the state average across racial and ethnic groups.
Statewide, equal shares of Black and white Mississippians have been fully vaccinated for COVID-19: About 34% each, according to the state’s latest vaccination report. In the six southernmost counties of the state, 31% of white residents and 26% of Black residents are vaccinated.
Only 17% of Hispanic/Latino residents on the Coast have been fully vaccinated, compared to about 23% statewide.
While the state reports demographic data for vaccine recipients across the state daily, that data isn’t regularly released at the county level.
The Sun Herald requested data on the race and ethnicity of COVID vaccine recipients in George, Hancock, Harrison, Jackson, Pearl River and Stone counties from the state health department. When the health department does not know the race of a vaccine recipient, they are not included in the data.
These graphs reflect the number of vaccinations distributed as of Aug. 10. They do not include people who have received only one dose of a vaccine.
The data from the health department was compared to the 2020 U.S. Census population counts to determine the overall vaccination rate by racial and ethnic group for each county on the Coast.
Our analysis does not take into account the share of each group that is eligible for the vaccine — that is, people 12 and older.
Nationally, Hispanic and Latino Americans skew younger: In 2019, their median age was 30 and their modal (or most common) age was 11, according to the Pew Research Center. That may be part of the explanation for low vaccination rates in the Coast’s fast-growing Hispanic community.
But advocates say the language barrier and concerns about privacy and immigration status also play a role. Misinformation is a factor, too, WLOX reported last month.
Statewide and in most Coast counties, Asian and Pacific Islander residents report some of the highest vaccination rates.
According to the latest census results, Harrison County and Jackson County have the largest and second-largest Asian populations in Mississippi, with a large Vietnamese community. Local organizations like the Vietnamese Martyrs Church, Boat People SOS and the Chua Van Duc Buddhist Temple have worked with the health department to coordinate vaccination events and provide information in Vietnamese.
Here’s what we learned about vaccination rates for each county.
Vaccination by race/ethnicity by County
We did not include groups for which the Census recorded fewer than 50 residents. (This includes Pacific Islanders in Hancock, George, Pearl River and Stone Counties.) The Census publishes counts of people who identify their race as multiracial or “Other,” while the health department data did not include a count of multiracial vaccine recipients in the Coast counties.
This story was originally published August 16, 2021 at 5:50 AM.
