A notice telling COVID-19 vaccine is not yet available is pictured on the door of a pharmacy in New Orleans, Louisiana, the United States, Nov. 25, 2020. (Photo by Lan Wei/Xinhua)
Besides distribution confusion and anxiety, incorrect and even misleading data have also been found in southern states as healthcare providers rush to get people vaccinated as soon as possible.
In the state of Louisiana, healthcare workers recently found flawed data collection concerning the race of vaccine recipients.
Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards unveiled on Friday that data from the state's health department showed that over half of the people who had received the vaccine had been marked "other" or "unknown" to describe their race on forms health providers are required to submit to the department.
According to Edwards, about 36 percent were marked "other" and 20 percent were marked "unknown," making the state unable to know the race of more than half the roughly 300,000 doses administered to date.
The lack of accurate information on race paints an imprecise picture of who is getting vaccines in the state, local media said. It could also undermine the push by federal and state officials to distribute vaccines equitably.
