The newspaper I have frequently called The Philadelphia Enquirer^[1]RedState writer Mike Miller called it the Enquirer, probably by mistake, so I didn’t originate it, but, reminiscent of the National Enquirer as it is, I thought it very apt. has been very, very worried about “racial inequities” afflicting “underserved communities”, especially since the beginning of the COVID-19 panicdemic. Now, more than two years later, they’re still worried.

Racial inequities in vaccination are emerging again, this time among Philly’s elementary age kids

From vaccines for kids to COVID treatments, old inequalities appear to be reasserting themselves.

by Jason Laughlin | Sunday, July 3, 2022 | 9:00 PM EDT

The Black Doctors Consortium was among the first in the city to offer newly approved COVID shots for young children in June, setting up clinics at its health center in a mostly Black neighborhood in North Philadelphia.

Despite the neighborhood’s demographics, most of the 100 families that showed up were white. When it comes to children’s vaccinations in Philadelphia, that’s not uncommon.

More than a year and a half since COVID vaccines became available, ensuring equitable access to all Philadelphians, regardless of race or income, remains a challenge. The demographics for vaccinations among children under 5 have not yet been collected, but among 5 to 11-year-olds, who have been eligible since last fall, about 37% of Philadelphia’s white children are fully vaccinated, compared to 25% of Hispanic children and 22% of Black children. Vaccination rates among Asian children are much higher than the rest in that age group — 57%.

White and Asian Philadelphians are more likely to have received booster doses, too, with 38% of white city-dwellers and 48% of Asian residents having received additional shots. Just over a quarter of Black and Hispanic Philadelphians have received a booster.

OK, let’s look at that. The article title and subtitle — possibly written by an editor rather than the article author — refer to “racial inequities” and “old inequalities”. But the clinic described is in a “mostly black neighborhood” in North Philly, so it’s not as though access ought to be a problem. There should be a lot of black families within walking distance of the clinic. More, the shots are free, so expense is not a factor. Add to that the fact that the Black Doctors Consortium plans to have their clinics that stay open until 7:00 PM, so that working parents have more of a chance to get their kids there, and there is no reason that children from “underserved communities” would be getting vaccinated at lower rates other than the conscious decisions being taken in those communities by parents.

Other health care workers noted child vaccinations may seem less of a priority because children are not in school, are away at camps, or are with their families on summer vacations. Others may not feel the need to vaccinate children because the virus is typically milder for kids.

So, personal choices.

“There are not enough people still involved in pushing for residents to bring their children to get vaccinated,” said Quetcy Lozada, vice president of community engagement and organizing for Esperanza, a Hispanic community organization in the Hunting Park neighborhood.

The end of mandates, and reduced rates of infection and death have made the virus feel less urgent, she noted, though the virus has waned before only to surge again.

“As the city started to open up, and folks were able to come back to their places of work and their places of worship, and the mask mandates started to become less and less required, the sense of urgency I think also became a little bit relaxed,” she said.

There are other ‘reasons’ given in the article as to why people are just not choosing to get their children vaccinated at the rates the health care professionals say they should, with, of course, an emphasis on ‘misinformation’ in the public and on social media, and the statement that the black community in the city simply don’t have as much trust in the health care system. But in every case, it all condenses down to one thing: the high muckety-mucks simply haven’t been persuasive enough, haven’t sold everybody on the need to get their kids vaccinated.

This raises the obvious, if nevertheless hugely politically incorrect question: if this particular issue has led to “racial inequities” and “inequalities” in minority communities, is it not possible, just possible, that other “racial inequities” and “inequalities” in minority communities are the result not of those communities somehow being discriminated against, but personal choices and decisions being taken in those communities?

Is it possible that the decisions being taken by individuals lead to an aggregate effect that might not be to the benefit of a community as a whole? Too often the left, the “progressives,” are left scratching their pumpkin heads trying to figure out why such things are so, and coming up with all sorts of excuses to blame everything other than the obvious.