Member-only story
What California Can Learn from COVID Hotspots India and Brazil
By Manny Otiko, California Black Media
While some Americans are reluctant to take the coronavirus vaccines, which are widely available, they would do well to look to other parts of the world where people are desperate for the medication.
In California, 35% of African Americans are partially vaccinated, according to state data. More than 50 % of Whites have received the vaccine. Asians have the highest vaccination rate at 63 %.
According to doctors on the frontlines of the coronavirus pandemic in countries such as Brazil and India — where the global crisis has been most intense — the vaccine is one of the most reliable tools they have to fight the disease.
The doctors shared their experiences recently during a media briefing organized by Ethnic Media Services. Dr. Rosemarie De Souza, who works at a hospital in Mumbai, India, carried out a study of about 680 patients who were affected during the first wave of the pandemic. She says vaccines have been critical to saving patients’ lives. People who had received both doses of the vaccine had low mortality rates, she said. She hadn’t seen any deaths from people who had been vaccinated. “Vaccinations are the main thing now,” said De Souza.
