PRENTISS SMITH
Contributing Columnist
A recent study shows that black people are the least vaccinated in Caddo Parish and surrounding areas, and the extraordinary outreach programs are not having any impact on improving that statistic. The truth is that older blacks are getting the vaccination, but young blacks are lagging far behind in obtaining the shots, and that is a problem.
Covid 19 is raging in northwest Louisiana, with Minden being one of the hottest spots in the state. The Delta variant is the predominant strain in the country right now, and it is more contagious and more deadly.
Governor John Bel Edwards, who has done as good a job as any governor in being proactive against the virus, is now begging people to take the vaccine. The state is offering all kinds of incentives to people to get the vaccinations, which are 90% to 95% effective. In other words, it works tremendously well.
Right now, black people are not getting the vaccine, and that is their choice, but it is a selfish choice not to get the shot. The shot can protect people from getting severely ill or even dying. It is proven. It is working. Those areas where people are vaccinated, the virus is all but dead. In the places where vaccinations are lagging, like northwest Louisiana and Caddo Parish, the virus is out of control. It is insidious.
The owner of this paper, John Settle, started a promotion for people to get a shot for $100, and there have not been many takers. “Don’t be a snot, get a shot.” He understands that in order for things to get better socially and economically, people are going to have to get vaccinated, which is why he started the promotion.
Covid 19 is still killing people in northwest Louisiana, and sadly, the majority of them are black people. Many of the black people that I talk to have not, or do not plan to get the shot, and that is scary. The only way to stay out of the hospital or not to die from this deadly virus is to get “jabbed,” as they say in England. The” jab” can save your life.
Almost every parish in northwest and north-central Louisiana is showing double-digit percentage increases in Covid 19 over the last two weeks. That is an astounding number, but it is not the worst statistic. The worst statistic is that the overwhelming majority of people who are becoming very sick with this disease are people who have not been vaccinated. Ninety-nine percent of the deaths from Covid 19 have been people who were not vaccinated.
Recently, a friend of mine whose mother wanted to take the virus, kept putting it off, and she contracted the virus because she was scared to get the vaccination. There are a lot of people, particularly older black people like her, who are afraid for whatever reasons — scared of needles, scared of past histories with vaccinations and black people, scared of getting the virus injected into them, which was not the case. The point is that black people are the least vaccinated demographic in Louisiana, and it is not improving.
Covid 19 has not gone away, and it will not go away until everyone realizes that the only way to avoid all of the problems that were seen last year in 2020 is to get vaccinated. It should be a no-brainer, but it is not. People have their own minds, and that is fine. That is the greatness of this country, but there comes a time when people have to take others into consideration. There is so much misinformation going around, and it is understandable why people are reluctant to take the vaccine. It is all lies. This vaccine is safe, effective, and most of all, it is free.
Black people who suffer disproportionately from core morbidity health problems like diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity and heart conditions, are precisely the people who should be running to get the vaccines because they are the ones who are dying disproportionately from this terrible virus. Less than 20% of the black people in this area are vaccinated, and that has to improve.
“Don’t be a snot, get your shot.” Continue to mask up and social distance. The virus is not dead. It is still killing people, especially those who are non-vaccinated. And that’s the way I see it. smithpren@aol.com