On Tuesday, April 20 Axios discussed historic health inequities and the injustice in medical research that have impacted trust in the health care system and the COVID-19 vaccine rollout, featuring White House senior advisor for COVID-19 response Andy Slavitt, White House senior policy advisor for COVID-19 equity Dr. Cameron Webb and California Surgeon General Dr. Nadine Burke Harris.
Andy Slavitt and Dr. Cameron Webb discussed the White House COVID-19 response, highlighting rates of vaccinations and the administration's focus on equitable access.
- Dr. Cameron Webb on how addressing short-term issues around racial equity can have a long-term impact: "There's the long issue of making sure that racial justice is a priority, making sure that we're serving rural communities and a very real and meaningful way...[It's] really critical to keep in mind is the short game in the long game."
- Andy Slavitt on the impact of universal vaccine access for adults in America, focusing specifically on communities of color: "We are averaging about four million vaccines per day over the weekend [and] each day [during the week] we're doing we're averaging over three million per day."
Dr. Nadine Burke Harris discussed California's approach to addressing health equity, safety precautions, and building trust in public messaging:
- On addressing systemic inequities and the issue of trust: "We see higher rates of disease and death in our most vulnerable communities, so we are sending higher numbers of vaccines to those vulnerable communities to proportionally target that risk. But sending vaccines to vulnerable communities alone is not going to solve the problem. So we need to address the issues of trust that have developed over decades."
Axios Vice President Yolanda Brignoni hosted a View from the Top segment with YouTube Director & Global Head of Healthcare & Public Health Partnerships Dr. Garth Graham who discussed protecting platforms against health misinformation.
- "We're working actively to remove misinformation from [YouTube]. It's also important to replace that with the kinds of engaging information around science and public health...You can help reach communities at scale with scientific information in an engaging way."
Thank you YouTube for sponsoring this event.