Support for the statewide broadcast of the state of Ohio comes from medical mutual, providing more than one point four million Ohioans peace of mind with a selection of health insurance plans online at Medda Mutual dotcom slash Ohio by the law offices of PorterWright Morris and Arthur LLP.

Now with eight locations across the country, PorterWright is a legal partner with a new perspective to the business community, Morad PorterWright Dotcom and from the Ohio Education Association, representing 100 24000 members who work to inspire their students to think creatively and experience the joy of learning online at O H E A dot org, Gov.

Mike DeWine hints at what the next round of covid-19 vaccine eligibility will look like.

Lawmakers chip away at the remnants of a controversial nuclear bailout law, and we dove deep into the effects of racial health inequities in Ohio and how it might be playing a role in vaccine hesitancy.

It's all this week on the state of Ohio.

Welcome to The State of Ohio, I'm Andy Chow filling in for Karen Kasler Governor Mike DeWine says the state is not ready to ramp up vaccination to new age groups or health conditions quite yet.

The end of February means the end of vaccinations for teachers and school staff, opening up more of the supply to people.

Sixty five years and older, DeWine says the state wants to see a higher percentage of people in those age groups get vaccinated before opening eligibility to younger groups.

They were still looking at all the data in regard to that.

But but the next big move is going to occur.

When we move from 65 down to 60 and then from there to 55 and then from there to 50.

If you look at people 50 and over.

What you'll find is that 97 to 98 percent of all deaths have come in that age group.

So, again, it is the best it is the best indicator that we have.

DeWine is emphasizing the importance of visitation at nursing homes and assisted living facilities.

He sent a letter to these centers outlining the guidelines for visits and urging facilities to open up if they fit the proper safety criteria.

There have been widespread complaints about the challenges family members have faced visiting loved ones in nursing homes.

The Senate Committee on Energy and Public Utilities approved Senate Bill forty four, which eliminates the subsidies for Ohio's two nuclear plants.

That money would come from increased charges on all Ohioans monthly electric bills, giving one hundred and fifty million dollars a year to the plants.

Lawmakers have looked at repealing parts of the bailout from HB six since it's been tied to a bribery scandal allegedly involving first energy.

And Republican former House Speaker Larry Householder.

Bob is the new chair of the Ohio Republican Party.

The state GOP's state central and executive committee held a vote to have Pidcock replace former chair Jane Timkin, who's now running for the US Senate.

Podiatric was one of the first major players in Ohio to stand by Donald Trump's presidential race in twenty sixteen, eventually becoming Trump's state campaign director.

Podiatric had deep ties with both the establishment Republican wing and the grassroots groups that helped Trump win Ohio.

In twenty sixteen, he went on to become a national campaign director for Trump's reelection bid in twenty twenty.

In his pitch to the party, Podiatric says Ohio Republicans need to focus on building finances and infrastructure to elect GOP candidates in twenty twenty two.

He added that other priorities include increasing their numbers in urban counties and focusing the party's efforts on service to others.

Former state representative John Becker of the Cincinnati area was the only challenge to Patrick's nomination.

The Ohio Department of Health is holding virtual town halls to answer questions about the covid-19 vaccine among different communities.

The focus of this town hall was geared towards African-Americans, with another event centered on questions among people who are Hispanic or Latin NEC's.

The state says it's ramping up outreach and education to address vaccine hesitancy.

The next round of town halls will center around questions in the Asian-American and rural communities.

Researchers have documented the presence and effects of racial health disparities for decades.

However, the covid-19 pandemic has shed new light on the problem.

Cases of covid-19 are disproportionately high among black people, and now there are signs of vaccine hesitancy.

There are many factors that play into the racial health gap and the current issue with a reluctance among black people to get the covid-19 vaccine.

Experts say that includes a lack of communication and a history of unethical actions within the health care field that's led to mistrust to dove deeper into the issue.

I talked to three people working on racial health inequity in Ohio.

First, Dr Kara Barnett, a postdoctoral researcher at Ohio State University's Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity.

I asked Dr. Barnett about the different signs of health inequities during the current pandemic.

We've had these health disparities no matter what health outcome you look at.

Unfortunately, there are health disparities, particularly among African-American and black communities, and we've seen it for generations.

What we know with covid-19 it is shedding light on what's happening because it is a global pandemic.

And so everyone's kind of paying attention now where, for example, infant mortality, especially black infant mortality in Ohio, has been an issue for a very long time.

People know about it, but I don't know if everyone necessarily knows about it versus now Kobe has put us in a position where we are.

Most of us are at home.

So now we're locked and tuned in to what's happening in the world around us.

And so now we have a lot more people now paying attention to what's happening.

Who are we seeing the hardest hit, which is positive.

Right.

One of the things that I hope comes out of this pandemic is that we figure out and tap into these disparities and pin incidents who have been putting effort into addressing the disparities that we see.

Because beyond before Colvert, there was disparities.

After that, there's going to be disparities in our minority communities.

And we got to be willing to not only examine them because we've done enough that we know enough about the numbers, but now we need to really start putting our effort into solutions.

So how do we really start to address these these health inequities?

What are some of the challenges that you're hearing about or that that.

You know, health workers are facing when it comes to talking to people about vaccine hesitancy, absolutely.

So I would say that work is one just starting.

So we are in the process of like getting our tools ready to go out and collect the data and to hear that information.

But what we know from some data around the the needs assessment that was done for state of Ohio is that there is some there is some hesitancy and it's also some anecdotal testimony as well.

But it is there's hesitancy around the newness of this this vaccine.

I don't think a lot of folks understand how we came from.

Here's this new virus that we haven't heard of in December.

Twenty ninety to hey now, just over a year later, we have a vaccine because the narrative that was coming out in the media was around like, oh, vaccines take a long time.

But we heard we heard that a lot in the independent vaccines can take decades to come up with.

And so now that we have this vaccine that's hit the market, folks are concerned about that newness and not really understanding how we got from point A to point B.

And I think that that's really important part that we have to touch on and hit on.

I can say myself personally, right.

Even I was like, whoa, that happened quick.

I'm privileged enough to work at the Ohio State University.

So I have colleagues and friends that I can reach out to who can explain that science to me and say, hey, you know, actually we got to this point because the technology was being built for decades of how do we sequence a gene of a virus to create a vaccine and how do we have this new method of vaccine delivery that that helps this process move a lot faster?

Right.

So I'm privileged to be in space this to get that information, to make me say, OK, great, I can trust the science now because someone explained it to me.

We have to figure out how we can do the same thing for folks in the community, how we can make them OK with the science.

And in a part of that, too, is figuring out who are those trusted individuals to deliver that message because it can't just come from anybody.

So I was able to talk to folks that I know personally and get that information.

So how do we get the information out to trusted individuals and communities to get that information to community members?

Do you see more hesitancy in certain areas and and if so, why do you think that is?

Yeah, so some of the data, there's definitely a lot of hesitancy across all racial and ethnic minorities.

Some of the data that's come out recently is indicating that there is more hesitancy among minority populations.

And again, I think it's a part of not knowing in the newness of it.

A part of it is also the history that we have seen in this country in terms of black bodies being used for the advancement of science.

We can talk about the Tuskegee experiments.

That was an experiment that was funded by the government to understand how syphilis reacts in the body.

We know that that was black individuals were infected on purpose.

We know that even after a known treatment for syphilis was founded, the study continued and folks were not given the treatment.

And I think sometimes people think that that happened a long time ago.

So we should be able to move past that.

But I think that that created a sense of mistrust.

Within within the medical community outside of Tuskegee, we also know recently in the last year, data has come out about how black babies or maternal health outcomes are better for black women if their doctors are black.

So why is that?

Well, that's around the bias that we see happening in the medical system against minorities.

And so all of these things play a role in why people are hesitant because they haven't been in a system, a health care system that has been proven to be trustworthy.

And so we have to figure out how do we also build back that trust?

And a part of it is not skating over that history.

A part of it is taking the time to acknowledge people and how they feel and then also asking people, well, what do we need to do?

How do we gain how do we rebuild that trust?

Are you feeling a sense of urgency?

So it's not only building back that trust or regaining that trust, but also doing it quickly.

In order for people to get the vaccine now rather than a year from now, do do you feel any sense of urgency there, too?

I mean, I think there's definitely a sense of urgency, but I think that we have to, like, not move so fast that we don't fix the problem.

I think another thing that we have to also think about is that, again, the disparities existed before.

They're going to exist after right outside of this pandemic.

So how do we also build trust in communities that tells them that beyond this moment, we are here to help you and we actually want equity beyond just this pandemic, because I think that's also another valid concern that folks have is that, well, if you haven't cared about what's happening in my community for decades, why now?

Why now?

Do you want to push this new vaccine onto my community when you have been here before?

So we have to figure out how we are going to address all the issues that communities have outside of health inequities to.

Right.

Our health inequities, we know, are rooted in what's called social determinants of health.

So it is all of these things, our education systems, our housing, our transportation, our socioeconomic status and programs within communities.

It's it's a big it's a big thing to take on, but we've got to do the work.

How important is it?

Do you feel for the people, for government, for other people to start listening, so doing less talking, more listening, like you said, there are real concerns out there.

There's mistrust.

People are saying, why now?

How important is it for people to listen to that?

I think it's really important, I mean, I think it's going to help you also find the messages you're trying to get out to community.

Again, it's it's not skating over that history is acknowledge them like, hey, I know that these mistakes have been made in the past.

But here we are trying to make an effort to do better.

But I think if we listen then in those messages around the vaccine, you can also address the other concerns that community that have.

So now it might not be messages like trust the science, get the vaccine.

Well, maybe it's like, hey, we want to we want you to get the vaccine.

And then here are the other programs that we want to try to be committed to in the future that's going to address all those other health inequities.

Renee Mahaffey Harris is the president and CEO for the Center for Closing the Health Gap in Greater Cincinnati.

We talked about the history of the racial health gap and how that's led to the current vaccine hesitancy.

It's a marriage, right?

So, you know, not only the health systems, but the other systems that affect our quality of life until we we we meaning we we all the big w, we understand that and then understand and understand how that system is working and how it should work to support you.

And that may mean that you need to understand what it is, what it was designed to do so that you can ask the questions so that you can be more informed and equipped.

So when I think about the health gaps work, it's about equipping people with the tools.

It's not just the tools about reading a food label and understanding the level of sodium and sugar content and what we eat every day.

But it's also understanding what the environmental factors that are contributing to your poor health outcomes or the quality of life for most responses are designed for the whole.

And not for the targeted elements, targeted components that need maybe a different strategy or a different message, what this past years look like with a pandemic, the challenges that people of color have faced, people that everybody is facing, then especially the inequities that people of color have faced.

Now we're in this phase where the vaccine is being rolled out.

And now what we're seeing, as we've seen time and time again, as history has proven that there are disparities and there is now a low rate of vaccination among people of color, especially among black people.

What are you seeing when it comes to the vaccine rollout, what are some of the challenges when it comes to this low vaccine rate?

So I think that there may be some qualifiers around the around the the lower rates, and so when we look at one, that one, which is where we still are, I guess we're now in one sea.

I guess so.

Think about let's think about one day.

Let's think about the mistrust in the medical field.

Let's think about the composition of the medical field.

Right.

And so and I said this to someone.

So I'm not excusing you know, I do think that there are disparities.

But when you look at one a so so that would speak to the workforce, that would speak to our health system workforce.

So we know that in our nation we have less than five percent of our physicians being black.

We know that.

I know that at least in greater Cincinnati, we have about three percent or two point six to three percent of our physicians being black.

So if the health professionals are 1A.

And the data that we have now is really more reflective of one A primarily and maybe some of one B would then tell me that, yes, we are going to be lower in that number.

Now, when it comes to one B and one C, I think that what we are hearing and learning about our seniors is that all all things aren't equal.

Right.

So if you are senior living in a building, that is because we do know that the state and I happen to be on the state's workforce for a more workgroup for the vaccine dissemination.

I was also part of the strike force.

So in the strike force, what we did was like, hey, you know, we have a big issue and like we're going to take a stab at saying cure all the things that need to be addressed.

So that's what the blueprint said.

So but we're still in the midst of a pandemic, right?

So we know we're not going to be able to move the needle on those things.

We've identified them as barriers and challenges that we must address going forward.

And so then now we're going to couple that with the vaccine dissemination.

We have the same factors of risk of transportation, communication barriers.

Those haven't gone away.

So I do commend all of us for really working as hard as we can to meet people where they are using the data to say, hey, the census data tells us where people live.

So I know in this region we've taken those we've created these incredible maps that tell us where people are, what the barriers are, so that when we look at strategy of rollout, when we have more vaccine, because right now we don't have enough vaccine, then we're going to be able to build the places for dissemination to occur so that that meeting people where they are is the goal.

So that we can improve and make sure there's equitable distribution.

We learned a lot from the testing sites, too, so we can also use that data overlay here where we had a greater number of people of color are people, black people and brown people.

And so the vaccine hesitancy is that love to say this, that our research showed us that the hesitancy because of generational knowledge, of mistrust of the medical field stems from the historic references of government funded research.

So that generational knowledge carries down from generation to generation.

And that's where that hesitancy comes from.

So the only way to address that hesitancy is information, information, having black physicians be out front talking about what the vaccine isn't isn't answering honest questions because someone may have had some impact from taking the vaccine, meaning a high, low grade fever, maybe chills or maybe some symptoms that they're like, oh, my gosh, now I have no but understanding those facts so that you can share factual information at the end of the day, make an informed decision.

And so I really am very excited about what I see happening with black physicians, black researchers, black community leaders, faith leaders.

Our research also told us, you know, because oftentimes when we think of strategy, we go, OK, let's go to the faith, let's go to the churches.

What our research told us is that the facility of the church is the trust, the power, the trust.

But it's different right now because we're not in person in most churches.

Right.

And so so understanding where our strengths are and how we can then utilize our assets in our neighborhoods that are, you know, faith organized, faith based sites that could be stood up as a vaccination site that what kind of information do people want to receive and what are the various ways it needs to be distributed to people?

Because not everybody has a computer.

Yes, we have television, people have televisions, maybe even radio.

But, you know, the ability to potentially sign up.

And I know here, you know, our United Way has stood up a site so that people don't have that barrier, meaning that someone can call that number and have somebody register them.

I know our organization is working with over many churches and other organizations to say, let's make sure that we are a vehicle, a place where you can call if you're having a barrier so we can help you overcome that barrier.

And I don't think the barriers are going to go away, but I think it's for us to to to be nimble and meet people where they are.

And sometimes that's harder, but when we put all our minds together, we figure it out.

And I also talked to Commissioner Chambers and associate pastor for the United Methodist Church for all people, Chambers has been working in the community to help connect people with health and education services.

I asked her about the concerns she's been hearing regarding the vaccination process.

My biggest challenge is the lack of communication around the virus and around the vaccine.

Just some of the conversations some people are saying, are we supposed to wear one mask or are we not supposed to be double?

What is the goal like?

Where are we really supposed to be one news outlet to say this?

Another is that so consistent communication, I think, is a great start for all of us, but also education and awareness around this.

I think that people are, you know, just thinking that covid-19 is just this whole new thing and then, boom, that's it.

We're not really understanding.

Coronavirus has been around for a long time and it's different strands, right, that they're dealing with.

And so they've got the medical field and medical experts have come to the table and are like this.

This isn't brand new as far as coronavirus.

We're now just really looking at this strain.

So it's really not that difficult for us to try to roll out a vaccine because this is something that we've been doing for decades with that missing information.

Individuals are just thinking, oh, this is no is shut the whole world down there trying to hurry up and get a vaccine and rush it out.

So I don't trust it.

So it's a lot of misinformation.

Do you think there's a missed connection between what the government is trying to put out there and linking up with especially communities of color is so tricky, right?

Well, you're dealing with this particular thing when you have a systemic problem and when you have history that comes along with it, too.

So when you before you even get so covid, before you even get to vaccines and when you even get to the location of where information is, I think that there is such a missed opportunity to really begin to deal with that historical challenge that we're faced with as far as communities of color go in the medical world.

You know, people of color, especially black women, I know myself.

I deal with implicit bias all the time within the medical field, and I have to switch primary care physicians simply because of implicit bias.

And so when we began to really deal with those things, I think it will be easier for us to feel comfortable in searching and seeking out information, because honestly, if a right now, with the way that things are, even if you had the health department official themselves come in, deliver this information to a person of color or to a group of people of color, it would still be like, OK. And so if we don't get to the root of some of the location of information and how the government is putting it out, it just it really is a moot point.

What do you think the first steps to that is, how do you think officials can build back trust?

Yeah, you know, I think that having a lot of transparency in and conversation is the key thing.

You know, there's an art to communication that I don't think a lot of people value.

And so when people are feeling as if they can trust you, especially starting with the fact that if you're trying to reach a certain demographic, you should have a person who's culturally competent.

And it would be even better if you could have a person who looks like the people that you're trying to reach having in initiating the conversation.

Those types of steps, I think, are really key things that can start mending some broken relationships, if you will.

All three people said this is an issue the state must continue to follow closely.

That's it for us this week for my colleagues at the Statehouse News Bureau.

Thanks for watching.

Please check us out at Statenews.org.

You can follow the show, Karen Kasler, Jo Ingles and myself on Facebook and Twitter.

And be sure to join us next time for the state of Ohio.

Support for the statewide broadcast of the state of Ohio comes from medical mutual, providing more than one point four million Ohioans peace of mind with a selection of health insurance plans online at Medda Mutual dotcom slash Ohio by the law offices of PorterWright Morris and Arthur LLP.

Now with eight locations across the country, PorterWright is a legal partner with a new perspective to the business community, Morad PorterWright Dotcom and from the Ohio Education Association, representing 100 24000 members who worked to inspire their students to think creatively and experience the joy of learning online at O H E A dot org.