Native Americans embrace Covid-19 vaccine

CHEROKEE: Joyce Dugan did not hesitate before sitting down inside the Cherokee Indian Hospital for her second and final dose of the Covid-19 vaccine.

“I’m proud of our hospital,” the 72-year-old former tribal chief said as a nurse prepped her arm. “I’m proud that we can get these shots.”

While minority communities across the United States have struggled to trust the vaccine, the opposite is true for the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, a Native American tribe of 16,000 in North Carolina, and other tribes across the country, which were also quick to adopt Covid-19 prevention measures.

The federal Indian Health Service said on Tuesday that it has administered nearly 385,300 doses of Covid19 vaccines.

At a rate of about 18,490 per 100,000, that is higher than all but five US states, according to an AP analysis of federal data.

The trend owes itself both to a harsh reality – Native Americans and Alaskan Natives are four times more likely to be hospitalised from Covid-19, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention – and tradition.

“We already innately have held on to that cultural tradition of taking care of our community,” said Abigail Echo-Hawk, director of the Seattle Urban Indian Health Institute

and a citizen of the 3,000-member Pawnee Nation.

“The rest of the United States could learn from us.”

Last March, Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians Principal Chief Richard Sneed made the controversial decision to close Qualla Boundary, the Cherokee name for the tribe’s reservation in North Carolina.

“The data we were looking at told us that if we did nothing, we could expect that by April, we would have about 400 positives,” Sneed said.

Feeling the financial strain, the reservation opened again after seven weeks – and as expected, positivity rates rose steadily.

The tribe has lost 10 people to the virus since March, but the majority of the 1,299 members who contracted Covid-19 have recovered.

The Navajo Nation, the country’s largest Native American reservation with about 175,000 residents in Arizona, New Mexico and Utah, declared a public health emergency in March even before its first positive case was confirmed.

In North Carolina, a major reason why Cherokee tribe members have not hesitated in stepping forward to get the vaccine is their hospital.

“Many of our healthcare providers have been here for 10, 20 years,” Dr Rick Bunio, the tribe’s Clinical Director said. “The community trusts them.” — AP