Leaders in Prince William County continue to push to get more information about just who is getting the coronavirus vaccine.
Margaret Franklin, who represents Woodbridge District voters, says she’s told county staff to get her a vaccination report with a breakdown by race, that notes detailed demographic data.
Just this week, we reported that more than 18,300 whites in the Prince William region, including Manassas and Manassas Park, received the vaccine, far outpacing the numbers of blacks and hispanics, 4,350 and 5,500, respectively, who got the shot in the past two weeks.
“My colleagues and I are very concerned about lack of demographic data available on the COVID-19 vaccination program,” states Franklin in a press release.
Her colleague, Gainesville District Supervisor Peter Candland, began calling for similar information more than a month ago.
He’s requested the total number of vaccinations administered by the Prince William Health District, an arm of the state’s health department, and has yet to receive the information.
“I think they’ve been ignoring some of our requests,” said Candland, of the health district office.
When he receives it, Candland said he’d like to compare the data on first-round vaccine recipients, which include healthcare workers and seniors, to the latest phase that includes teachers, grocery store workers, public transit employees, church pastors, janitors, jail inmates, those living in homeless shelters, and in migrant camps.
“If the data matches up, we should be OK,” Candland told PLN.
Franklin’s demand for more data comes after Mac Haddow, an appointed member of the county’s Racial and Social Justice Commission, asked the commission to use the demographic data to ensure vaccines are being distributed equitably.
The commission denied the request, Haddow penned in a letter to the editor published here on PLN. When the commission was created last year by the Board of County Supervisors, it was tasked to create a report on racial disparities in the county and deliver it to Supervisors by December 2021.
The commission meets next at 6:30 p.m. Prince William County Government Center, inside the McCoart Building at 1 County Complex Court in Woodbridge, on Thursday, March 18.
A recent press release From the commission encouraged the public to attend.
