Shelby Review

Michigan does not collect data regarding the race of residents who are vaccinated against COVID-19, despite Gov. Gretchen Whitmer calling racial equity a cornerstone of the state’s COVID-19 response, according to Bridge Michigan.

For those entities that do collect the data, there’s no system in place to share it with the state. This hinders efforts to make sure vaccine distribution is done in a fair way, and that the racial populations that are most at risk are covered.

Debra Furr-Holden is a member of the Coronavirus Task Force on Racial Disparities. She is an epidemiologist and professor of public health at Michigan State University, and she called the gap in race data collection a “predictable and avoidable breakdown,” reported Bridge Michigan. Furr-Holden was appointed to the 23-member coronavirus task force in April 2020.

“It is almost criminal to me because we knew the vaccine was coming,” Furr-Holden told Bridge Michigan. “We know in the absence of a lot of intention and effort that — even if we put (vaccination sites) in communities — that is not going to ensure that (the vaccine) is getting put in people's arms equitably or fairly.”

The state is playing catch-up in terms of collecting data about race and other demographic factors in immunizations in general, said Elizabeth Hertel, the new director of the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS). The Michigan Care Improvement Registry (MCIR) has been used for decades to track immunizations, but it doesn’t gather this sort of demographic data. So the state is trying to figure out how to get it from other sources and then input the information about COVID-19 vaccination records into the MCIR.

“Up until now, (collecting race data) hadn't really been the purpose of MCIR,” Hertel said, according to Bridge Michigan. “While it may have been collected somewhere else, it wasn't coming centrally. That's why we're trying to... find out where the data is and then bring it together.”

That information is important not just for equity, but also for outreach efforts to communities that are medically underserved.

Some Michigan cities and counties are collecting race information, though. Detroit asks those who are seeking vaccinations to voluntarily disclose their race. Washtenaw County and Calhoun County also collect that information. Washtenaw has it in electronic health records; Calhoun County has been collecting the information but hasn’t compiled and reported it yet.

The state of Michigan has some work to do, and Furr-Holden says it’s time for mandates that require collection of demographic data, including race, as it's in the best interest of the community.