HEALTH
LGBTQ Youth Survey Highlights COVID Vax Numbers
New York-based providers react to statistical takeaways, provide update on progress
BY HEATHER CASSELL
A new survey of youth
and young adults in
Colorado has outlined
statistics surrounding
vaccination rates and hesitancy
by sexual orientation, gender identity,
race, and class — and local
community-based organizations
in New York City say some of the
numbers are aligned with what
they are seeing on the ground.
The survey, “Colorado Youth &
Young Adult COVID-19 Vaccine
Survey Results,” featured 420 individuals
between the ages of 12 and
24 who responded to 37 questions
in English and Spanish about
COVID-19 vaccination from August
19 to October 31 of last year.
Eighty-three percent of transgender
individuals said they had been
vaccinated compared to just 67
percent of cisgender respondents,
while 77 percent of all LGBTQ respondents
were vaxxed — 12 percent
higher than the vaccination
rate among non-LGBTQ individuals.
Non-LGBTQ respondents between
the ages of 18 and 24 had a
78 percent vaccination rate.
Seventy-three percent of BIPOC
LGBTQ folks said they were vaccinated,
which was slightly lower
than the 81 percent of non-LGBTQ
BIPOC folks who said they got
jabbed. There was a wider vaccination
gap reported among white respondents,
with 79 percent of LGBTQ
white people saying they were
vaccinated compared to 42 percent
of non-LGBTQ white people. Furthermore,
68 percent of fi nancially
disadvantaged BIPOC youth were
vaccinated compared to just 57
percent of low-income white youth.
Young adults below the age of 24
saw greater disparities, as 27 percent
of low-income white people were
vaccinated compared to 80 percent
of low-income BIPOC respondents.
While low-income BIPOC respondents
under the age of 18
reported higher vaccination rates
than low-income white respondents,
the survey found that 70
percent of low-income LGBTQ
youth between the ages of ages 12-
A 16-year-old student receives a dose of the COVID-19 vaccine at Lehman High School in the Bronx.
17 were vaccinated — 11 percent
lower than their peers with greater
fi nancial resources. Meanwhile,
40 percent of low-income LGBTQ
folks between the ages of 18 and
24 reported that they had been
vaccinated compared to 86 percent
of wealthier queer young adults.
Even as some low-income individuals
reported lower vaccination
rates, those numbers were
not necessarily aligned with vaccine
acceptance. The low-income
respondents reported greater vaccine
acceptance than the more resourced
participants — 50 percent
compared to 30 percent — and
much lower vaccine resistance.
Just 27 percent of economically
disadvantaged individuals said
they were reluctant to get the vaccine
compared to 59 percent of
wealthier folks.
“Understanding their views and
attitudes toward COVID-19 vaccination
is crucial to managing
and ending this pandemic,” Mardi
Moore, the executive director of Out
Boulder County, an LGBTQ youth
advocacy organization, said in a
written statement on January 10.
Moore said the survey helps to
“elevate voices” of LGBTQ and BIPOC
young people who “are too often
ignored by the medical establishment
and society.”
Michal Duffy, director of education
and research at Out Boulder
County, agreed.
REUTERS/DAVID ‘DEE’ DELGADO
“Studying vaccination rates as
well as views, attitudes, and barriers
to vaccination at these intersections
of identities revealed valuable
data that should inform efforts to
promote vaccination,” Duffy noted
in a written statement.
Out Boulder County partnered
with El Centro AMISTAD and Unwoven
Ventures to conduct the
survey with the organization’s
youth and young people.
Dr. Uri Belkind, associate director
of medicine, adolescent medicine,
and clinical director of Health
Outreach to Teens (HOTT) at the
Callen-Lorde Community Health
Center, said the report helps provide
insight for providers.
“This kind of report is critically
important in helping healthcare
providers — like us — better understand
the challenges our clients
face, to address health disparities in
the adult population that can perhaps
be stemmed earlier, as young
adults,” he told Gay City News.
Why decline the shot?
Parental roadblocks were reported
as the top reason why 55 percent
of youth who said they wanted
to get shots were not yet vaccinated.
Nearly as many respondents
reported side effects as their next
biggest concern.
Belkind, a 45-year-old out gay
man, agreed with the survey’s
fi ndings, stating that clinicians
have observed that “patients’ families’
stance on vaccination has indeed
been a factor.”
Other patients cited “concerns
that are popular in social media”
and Belkind said they were also
“not very receptive to factual information”
about the safety and effi -
cacy of the vaccines.
However, Belkind said the clinic
has seen a decrease in hesitancy
over time. A vast majority of Callen-
Lorde patients have received at least
one shot and patients are increasingly
“reporting or requesting booster
doses,” he explained. State mandates
have also helped, he said, and exclusion
from social events due to vaccine
requirements have been a motivating
factor to ‘just get it over with.’”
Vaccinating youth
Government infl uences proved
to be important not only with mandates,
but also with forming partnerships
with community-based
organizations. Together, agencies
worked to vaccinate communities
during the pandemic, as demonstrated
in New York City.
“Community-based organizations
can serve as a trusted voice to
reach underserved populations and
offer visible representation that can
contribute to higher vaccine acceptance
and uptake,” he said.
Bridget Hughes, an out lesbian
chief program offi cer at Hetrick-
Martin Institute, said city grants
and collaboration with local government
agencies boosted the organization’s
COVID-19 vaccination
response for its 1,500 youth. The
support allowed the organization
to bring a health van to its offi ces
twice last year, allowing clinicians
to vaccinate up to 40 and 20 clients
per visit, respectfully, and provide
critical COVID-19 safety supplies.
“We’re grateful for what we’ve
got,” Hughes said about the services
and pandemic supplies HMI
has received for its staff and clients
due to its partnership with the city.
“Marginalized communities trust
that we’re the ones to deliver.”
To increase vaccination rates,
the survey team suggested targeted
outreach and educational
strategies addressing community
concerns and questions.
JANUARY 13 - January 26, 2 4 022 | GayCityNews.com
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