WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Jacky Rosen (D-NV) and Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) announced they have joined colleagues in a letter to Vice President Pence highlighting racial disparities in the mortality rate of COVID-19 and asking that the Administration work to help states provide disaggregated racial data to the CDC in their COVID-19 case reporting, as well as requesting information on what the Administration is doing to provide outreach to minority communities, as well as non-English speaking communities, and requesting that the Administration ensure that any vaccine or drug trials on COVID-19 include diverse participants.
“COVID-19 has had a particularly devastating impact on racial minorities. According to a Washington Post analysis of early data, COVID-19 ‘appears to be infecting and killing black Americans at a disproportionately high rate.’ Specifically, the analysis shows that ‘counties that are majority-black have three times the rate of infections and almost six times the rate of deaths as counties where white residents are in the majority,’ ” wrote the Senators. “For this reason, it is imperative that you work with states and localities to provide disaggregated racial and other demographic data on COVID-19 deaths to the CDC. Finally, any clinical trials for vaccines and therapeutic treatments of COVID-19 must include participants that racially, socioeconomically, and otherwise demographically represent the United States.”
Read the Senators’ full letter aquí.
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