Community
Study Finds Hesitancy Among Parents, Caregivers To Vaccinate Children Against COVID-19
The study of 971 ParentsTogether members also found discrepancies in vaccine hesitancy by race and income level.
Less than two-thirds of parents and caregivers would vaccinate their children against COVID-19 once the vaccine is approved for pediatric use, according to a study released last week.
The study, conducted by the family advocacy group ParentsTogether, found that 70% of parents said they would “probably or definitely” get the COVID-19 vaccine or have already been vaccinated.
However, just 58% of those same parents and caregivers said they would vaccinate their children once state and federal public health experts determine the vaccine is safe for children under age 16.
The study of 971 ParentsTogether members also found discrepancies in vaccine hesitancy by race and income level.
According to ParentsTogether, just over 20% of Native American and Indigenous parents, 15% of white parents, 13% of Hispanic parents and less than 10% of Asian American and Pacific Islander parents said they would not vaccinate their children.
Among Black parents, 26% of respondents said they would not vaccinate their children, the most of any racial demographic.
In addition, families and caregivers of color were 70% more likely than their white counterparts to say they’re “not sure” about their children getting vaccinated.
The study also found that 23% of families with an annual household income of less than $35,000 were hesitant about vaccinating their children while 8% of families with incomes over $75,000 said the same.
ParentsTogether Co-Founder and Co-Director Bethany Robertson argued the results of the survey showed the need for informative community outreach about the benefits of the COVID-19 vaccine before the vaccines are approved for pediatric use, likely later this year.
“We have to make sure that the pandemic’s unequal impact on communities of color and low-income families doesn’t get repeated when it comes to vaccinating children against COVID-19,” Robertson said.
ParentsTogether’s study, released Wednesday, came the same week that the pharmaceutical company Pfizer announced that its two-dose vaccine was found to be safe and 100% effective among children ages 12 to 15.
The biotechnology company Moderna, which also developed a two-dose vaccine, is currently studying its efficacy among children younger than 16.
Pfizer officials hope to request emergency use authorization for the 12-15 age group in the coming weeks, with the goal of vaccinating the children in that group by the time school starts in the fall.
ParentsTogether’s study found that vaccine hesitancy was relatively soft among respondents, and due more to uncertainty and a lack of information than hardline opposition.
Responding to parents and caregivers raised concerns about short- and long-term side effects as well as the speed of the COVID-19 vaccine’s development.
Moderna and Pfizer, who developed the first two vaccines available on the market, got them to the public in under a year due in part to advances in the use of genetic material called messenger RNA, or mRNA.
Vaccine hesitancy was also significantly weaker among respondents who knew someone who had already been vaccinated. Roughly 44% of responding parents and caregivers said they would vaccinate their children and knew someone who had already been vaccinated.
Comparatively, just 22% of parents who did not know anyone else who has been vaccinated said they would definitely vaccinate their children.
“We need to start the conversation with parents now, to build trust and understanding about how getting kids vaccinated against COVID-19 protects their health, their family’s health, and the health of our communities,” Robertson said.
City Government
San Pablo Appoints New Economic Development and Housing Manager
Kieron Slaughter has been appointed as the economic development & housing manager for the City of San Pablo. Since 2017, Slaughter has served as chief strategic officer for economic innovation in the City of Berkeley’s Office of Economic Development. Previously, he served in a 2.5-year appointment in the Pacific West Region as one of 10 Urban Fellows in the United States National Park Service.
The Richmond Standard
Kieron Slaughter has been appointed as the economic development & housing manager for the City of San Pablo.
Since 2017, Slaughter has served as chief strategic officer for economic innovation in the City of Berkeley’s Office of Economic Development. Previously, he served in a 2.5-year appointment in the Pacific West Region as one of 10 Urban Fellows in the United States National Park Service.
Before that he was an associate planner in the City of Richmond’s Planning and Building Services Department from 2007-2015.
San Pablo City Manager Matt Rodriguez lauded Slaughter’s extensive experience in economic development, housing and planning, saying he will add a “valuable perspective to the City Manager’s Office.”
Slaughter, a Berkeley resident, will start in his new role on Nov. 12, with a base annual salary of $164,928, according to the City of San Pablo.
City Government
Aaron Osorio Rises Up Ranks to Become Richmond’s Fire Chief
For Aaron Osorio, it started with a ride along on a firetruck at age 10. “I thought it was the coolest job,” he said, adding, “I knew being in fire service would make a big difference in the community.” Now a 27-year fire service veteran, Osorio appears to approach his work with the same youthful exuberance. And that’s good for the city as Osorio was recently named chief of the historic Richmond Fire Department.
By Mike Kinney
The Richmond Standard
For Aaron Osorio, it started with a ride along on a firetruck at age 10.
“I thought it was the coolest job,” he said, adding, “I knew being in fire service would make a big difference in the community.”
Now a 27-year fire service veteran, Osorio appears to approach his work with the same youthful exuberance. And that’s good for the city as Osorio was recently named chief of the historic Richmond Fire Department.
Osorio is a San Francisco native who rose up the ranks in the Richmond Fire Department over the last 21 years before being elevated to chief.
He joined the department in 2002 and has served in multiple roles including firefighters, engineer, captain, battalion chief, training director and deputy fire chief. He said he truly loves working in this community.
While it isn’t common for a fire department to hire a chief that came up through its ranks, Osorio was credited by the city for serving Richmond well during uncommon times.
The city lauded him for developing internal policies and vaccination clinics during the initial COVID response, for supporting activation of the emergency operations center in response to a potential mudslide disaster in Seacliff last year, helping to draft mutual aid agreements and working to increase fire response capabilities for industrial incidents.
He’s also led departmental hiring and recruitment since 2018.
Osorio said it is an honor to be hired as chief and has big plans for the department moving forward. He said he wants to continue hiring and promoting for vacant positions, and also completing a strategic plan guiding the direction of the organization.
He also aims to replace and renovate a number of fire department facilities placed on the Capital Improvement Plan and create new ways to recruit that will enhance the diversity of the department.
Osorio said his experience within, and love for, the city of Richmond puts him in a good position to lead the department. He says he knows what is needed and also the challenges that are unique to the city.
“I look forward to utilizing that institutional knowledge to move the fire department forward in a positive direction and enhance the services we provide to the community,” the chief said.
Osorio holds a bachelor of science degree in Fire Administration and is also a California State Fire Marshal-certified chief officer, company officer, and state instructor.
He also holds numerous certifications in fire, rescue, hazardous material, and incident command.
The chief has been married to his wife, Maria, for 26 years and they have two sons, Roman and Mateo.
Barbara Lee
Congresswoman Barbara Lee Reflects on Historic Moment Less Than One Week from Election Day
Congresswoman Barbara Lee (CA-12) today released a piece on Medium reflecting on Vice President Kamala Harris’ historic presidential campaign 50 years after Lee worked on the presidential campaign of Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm.
Congresswoman Barbara Lee (CA-12) today released a piece on Medium reflecting on Vice President Kamala Harris’ historic presidential campaign 50 years after Lee worked on the presidential campaign of Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm:
“As Election Day approaches, I’m reflecting on a few dates and numbers that mean something to me.
Zero: the number of Black members in Congress 56 years ago. Next Congress, we hope to swear in over 60 members in the Congressional Black Caucus.
Three: The number of Black women to ever serve in the United States Senate since the first Congress in 1789.
Two: The number of Black women that will be elected to the Senate this year alone if we do our job.
1972: The first time a Black woman, Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm, ran for president in one of the major political parties of the United States.
Zero: the number of Black women to ever serve as president of the United States.
IF we do the work, we can change that with President Kamala Harris.
As I reflect on what would be Congresswoman Chisholm’s 100th birthday next month, I could not help but remember that my first official involvement in U.S. politics was working for her presidential campaign in 1972.
Over 50 years later, I have been involved in every single campaign since. Shirley was my mentor — she was a bold visionary, a progressive woman who understood that working together in coalitions was the only way to make life better for everyone, to build an equitable society and democracy that lived up to the creed of “liberty and justice for all.”
The historic moment we are in today is not lost on me. I have had the privilege to have known Vice President Kamala Harris for over three decades. She, after all, is a daughter of the East Bay. She, like Shirley, truly is a fighter for the people.
And I know she can move our country forward in a new way. As a member of her National Advisory Board, I have campaigned across our country to help take her message, her legacy of service, and her “to-do list,” as she says, to voters who were almost starting to feel hopeless, but are now feeling hopeful once again, captured by the politics joy and the bright possibilities brought upon by a possible Harris-Walz administration.
Recently, I visited churches in North Carolina with members of the Congressional Black Caucus. The chair of our CBC political action committee, Chairman Gregory Meeks from New York’s fifth district, eloquently and powerfully presented a vision of what Dr. Maya Angelou wrote in her famous poem, “And Still I Rise:” “I am the dream and the hope of the slave.”
Meeks remarked that on Jan. 20, 2025, we will observe the birthday of our drum major for justice, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
He also described that on Jan. 20, IF we do the work — if we knock on doors, if we make those phone calls, if we spread our message — standing on the podium at the U.S. Capitol will be the first Black speaker of the House of Representatives, Hakeem Jeffries.
In the wings will be over 60 members of the Congressional Black Caucus. Holding Frederick Douglass’ Bible will be the first African American woman appointed to the highest court of the land, Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson.
She will be swearing-in the first Black woman to serve as president, Kamala Harris, in front of the shining white dome of the United States Capitol, built by enslaved Black people.
In front of her and beyond, the tens of millions of Black men and women who voted for her. The world will witness the hope and the dreams of our ancestors ushering in a new way forward.
As I sat in front of the stage this week at the Ellipse in Washington, D.C., as Vice President Harris delivered remarks with the Oval Office behind her, I could not help but feel that our country was ready for this historic moment.
We are not only voting for a Black woman as Commander in Chief of the wealthiest and most powerful country in the world. We are definitively stating that we will not allow the clocks of freedom and justice to be turned back.
We are voting for our ancestors’ hopes and dreams. We are voting for the generations that will come after us, long after we are gone. We are voting for Vice President Kamala Harris.
Let’s get this done.
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