New data from some U.S. states and localities that closely track monkeypox outbreaks show extreme racial disparities that have experts worried, STAT recently reported.
In Georgia, 82% of people with the disease are black. In North Carolina, that percentage is 70%. In those two states, and nationally, almost all of the cases involve men who have sex with men, according to the report.
“The disparities appear to be compounded by the lack of access to the vaccine for people of color,” the report notes.
Data from North Carolina shows black men received 22% of vaccine doses, a figure that matches the state’s black population but not the high number of black men who have been infected, according to the report.
Nationally, white males appear to receive a much higher share of vaccines, a factor that public health experts say undermines efforts to protect vulnerable populations with less access to health care resources, adds The report.