New Jobs
Jobs threat in South Africa - MyBroadband New internship helps neurodivergent individuals work toward jobs in medical coding UCM Workforce Program Honors Graduates Who Balanced Careers, Family And Ambition Coding Specialist II - Careers - Myworkdayjobs.com Belmont College honors the graduating Class of 2025 - The Times Leader Howard College instructor, student speak on workforce training program expansion Nurses Get FREE Margaritaville Cruises In May! Here's How - Nurse.org Healthcare BPO Services Market to Expand at 9% CAGR by 2030, Driven by Rising ... Accurate medical information is focus of TSTC online program - Yahoo News Which Jobs Will Be Safe From AI In Next 10 Years? - Newspatrolling.com 75 yr old BSN wants to become a coder - Career Advice: Ask Nurse Beth - Allnurses.com Negotiating physician salaries: Compensation misconceptions - Medical Economics 10 High-Paying Jobs In Healthcare That Don't Require A Degree - Forbes Medical Billing Coder Educator | University of California San Francisco - jobs.brassri... Dakota College Downtown completes first year - Minot Daily News Top Technical Skills Resume Sample: Examples & Tips - Ladders Job: Receptionist / Administrator (Clinical support team) at St John's Medical ... Manslaughter Case Against Nurse Practitioner Dropped, But Felony Charges Remain Clinical Officer - Kenya - ReliefWeb Cleveland Clinic to implement generative AI for medical coding What to look for when onboarding at your first physician job | American Medical Associ... DOGE Federal Grant Freezes Cause Nurse Pay Delays - Nurse.org Upcoming career fair in Chesapeake offers jobs to displaced federal workers - WTKR Techie lands dream job by faking coding skills. Reddit post sparks debate on ethics in... Hiring RN | $65/hr | Weekend Shift | SSM Health On-Demand | TELE - Nurse.org AHIMA 2024: Showcasing Top Coding Vendors & HIM Innovations From Black Book ... Best Medical Assistant Programs in Arkansas | 2025 - All Nurses Leading HIM & Coding Vendors Driving Breakthrough Innovation, Setting the Pace for ... Ambulance Billing Technician | Jobs | uniondemocrat.com Job expo is giving opportunities to those with disabilities - KATC Best Coding Bootcamps With Job Guarantees Of 2024 - Forbes ScribeEMR Presents AI Scribing, and Medical Coding at the AHIMA24 Conference, October ... New CEO outlines Baystate Health restructuring in face of losses | HealthLeaders Media Medical Coding & HIM Industry Faces Mounting Challenges, According to Black Book's ... In-demand and rewarding careers in health care | Community & Lifestyle | Illinois ... 90% of Hospital and Health System Revenue Cycle Leaders Believe GenAI Will Impact ... 90% of Hospital and Health System Revenue Cycle Leaders Believe GenAI Will Impact ... Tanner Health and Healthliant Ventures Partner With Corti to Accelerate Medical Coding ... Hi-Tech City Job Fair on October 19 Promises Thousands of Job Opportunities - Ythisnew... GA Nurse Faces Charges For Stealing Jewelry, Dislocating Finger, Of Dementia Patients Hiring RN | $65/hr | Weekend Shift | SSM Health On-Demand | ED/ER job in Saint Louis, ... Legal Trademark War Erupts Over “Anesthesiology” Title Between Anesthesiologists & CRNAs Elevate Medical Solutions to Exhibit at AHIMA24 in Salt Lake City, Showcasing Medical ... Biotecnika Times Newsletter 10.10.2024 - Freshers Jobs Behind-the-scenes workers help LMH Health run smoothly - Lawrence Journal-World Registered Nurse RN - Up to $45.85/hour - Tuition Payback Program job in Big Rapids, MI Healthcare Job Growth Rebounds, Sorta, in September Campbell school district gets $250K grant for health care training - The Vindicator Campbell City School District receives over $200000 for medical training program Campbell City School District receives over $200000 for medical training program
NewsTexas

In Austin, Some Try to Address Vaccine Inequity, but a Broad Plan Is Elusive

Communities of color have been among the hardest hit during the pandemic. But advocates in Texas say those communities are likely to have a harder time getting the vaccine in the coming months, so they are urging local leaders to step in.

This story is part of a reporting partnership that includes NPR, KUT and Kaiser Health News. It can be republished for free.

Travis County Judge Andy Brown, the county executive in the Austin area, put together a vaccination event recently. Brown said he’d been hearing concerns that there weren’t enough places to get a covid-19 shot on the east side of Austin, which has more Black and Latino residents and more poverty than other parts of the city.

So, Brown asked a hospital for extra doses. And with 600 in hand, he worked with other local officials to set up a temporary drive-thru vaccination site in a southeast Austin parking lot. 

“They all realized that we need to get the vaccines in the arms of people who are in the hardest-hit ZIP codes,” Brown said. “People who are Latinx, who are African American — and especially who are over 65, because those are the people who get sickest.”

When Texas first released its distribution plan, advocates and local officials raised concerns. Twenty-three states, including Texas, are tracking vaccination rates by race, and Texas, like all the others, is vaccinating Black residents at a slower rate.  

Texas House Member Sheryl Cole, a Democrat who represents Black and Latino communities in East Austin, said she pointed out that the initial plan had 65 vaccine sites for Austin, but only nine on the east side.  

“Without a doubt, we are seeing disparate treatment of distribution and providers,” she said.

Part of the reason is that the plan relied heavily on chain stores, such as H-E-B, Kroger, Randalls, Walgreens and CVS. Brown said those big grocery and drugstores just aren’t as prevalent in East Austin.

“The fact is, this part of town, frankly, does not have as many H-E-Bs, pharmacies, [and] has a higher uninsured rate,” he said.

Mayor Steve Adler said his office has been lobbying state health officials to turn over the bulk of the vaccines to local governments, which know best how to get them to the hardest-hit communities.

“I believe that it goes out much more quickly and goes out to the people who most need it,” he said.

And this lobbying has worked. Recently, Texas health officials have started giving vaccines to local health departments, which are set up to vaccinate thousands of people. 

But there have been hiccups.

State officials pushed back against city leaders in Dallas who planned to use their hub vaccine distribution solely for Black and brown communities. The city has since decided to abandon that plan, according to The Texas Tribune.

Then there is the issue of scarcity. For example, the week of Jan. 18, Austin officials got about 12,000 doses for a city of about 1 million people. 

Jeremy Lopez, who lives in East Austin, signed up to get a vaccine from the city as soon as he could. Lopez had a kidney transplant in 2006 and is in a high-risk group. But he still has no idea when he’ll get vaccinated.

“There’s no definite time frame of like ‘Oh, in a week. Oh, in two weeks,’” he said. “It’s like ‘Don’t call us; we will call you.’”

Local officials are urging people to be patient.

Austin City Council Member Natasha Harper-Madison said she thinks everyone, including state and local government, should have done more planning.

“I am a member of Austin’s governing body, and I’ve got to tell you that I don’t think we have done everything we could have to make certain that we were prepared for what we knew was coming,” she said.

That includes having plans to prioritize the hardest-hit communities, Harper-Madison said.

Cole said Black and Latino Texans have already been through enough.

“The underserved community already has to deal with economic disparity and loss of jobs with covid — and then to add this additional burden is not good. It’s not fathomable,” she said.

This story is part of a reporting partnership that includes NPR, KUT and KHN.

Kaiser Health News (KHN) is a national health policy news service. It is an editorially independent program of the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation which is not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente.

USE OUR CONTENT

This story can be republished for free (details).

Syndicated from https://khn.org/news/article/in-austin-some-try-to-address-vaccine-inequity-but-a-broad-plan-is-elusive/