| The White vaccination rate is not as bad as it had seemed, and Hispanic communities are lagging more than previously thought. Updated city and state population figures from the 2020 U.S. Census released last month gave a clearer picture of the country's racial and ethnic makeup. In every state, the White-only share of population was smaller than projected, and, as a result, a larger percentage of White people in many places have received shots than previously reported. As of this month, around 30 states have vaccinated a majority of their White populations with at least one dose, according to new calculations by Bloomberg using the 2020 Census data. Florida saw the biggest jump, with an increase of almost 14 percentage points among White people. There was a similar phenomenon for the Black vaccination rate in 19 states and the District of Columbia. But in another 24 states, the rate inched down slightly. Meanwhile, faster-than-expected growth in Asian and Hispanic populations across the country resulted in a drop in the vaccination rates for those groups in nearly every place we track. Eight states saw a more than 10 percentage-point drop among Asian people with the new Census figures.
 Overall, states are still generally lagging behind in vaccinating Black and Hispanic people, though the gaps have closed significantly since doses became widely available to people over age 12. Some of the remaining disparities among Black and Hispanic communities in certain states are a result of who has approval to get vaccinated, but hesitancy—for a variety of reasons—is keeping people of all races and ethnicities from getting the shots. Federal and state officials had said they made it a priority to get those most at risk vaccinated in the earliest months of the vaccination campaign. Early in the pandemic, Covid infection rates in certain minority groups outpaced those in White communities; death rates for some Black counties were triple those of comparable White ones. But with wide availability of shots and near-universal eligibility requirements now, reaching the unvaccinated has become more difficult. President Joe Biden has blamed rampant misinformation on social media platforms for high hesitancy rates, though the reasons people don't yet have their shots vary widely.
Either way, early indications of inequity should be a clarion call for better, more complete data on race and ethnicity. Without it, we won't be able to fully assess how well—or how poorly—the U.S. is serving all of its residents.—Andre Tartar
Save the date | Join Michael R. Bloomberg, the World Health Organization's Global Ambassador for Noncommunicable Diseases, as he hosts a special live update on Covid-19 next week. He will be joined by Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, and Dr. Kelly Henning, Bloomberg Philanthropies Public Health Program Lead. The briefing is scheduled for Sept. 23 at 1:45 p.m. EDT Registration: https://bloombergdotorg.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_N-QWY6DNTa-aJSTb_36IrQ | 
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