The COVID pandemic

Select a topic relevant to the COVID pandemic (access to health care, economic inequality, the global context of the pandemic, racial and ethnic disparities in contraction rate or access to the vaccine, political decision-making and leadership, etc).

  1. Provide at least three scholarly or otherwise trustworthy sources on your topic, and justify your use. How do they help you understand the problem or issue? Why are they good sources? (Remember Evaluating Information Sources)
Full Answer Section

Justification:

These sources are all scholarly or otherwise trustworthy. The KFF is a non-profit organization that provides data and analysis on health policy issues. The other two sources are articles published in peer-reviewed journals, which means that they have been reviewed by other experts in the field.

These sources help me to understand the problem of racial and ethnic disparities in COVID-19 contraction rate and access to the vaccine in several ways. First, they provide data on the extent of the disparities. For example, the KFF report found that as of July 11, 2022, Black people were less likely than White people to have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine (59% vs. 87%).

Second, these sources help to explain the factors that contribute to the disparities. For example, the article in Preventing Chronic Disease found that socioeconomic factors, such as income and education, mediate the relationship between race and ethnicity and COVID-19 vaccination coverage.

Third, these sources suggest potential strategies for addressing the disparities. For example, the article in JAMA Network Open found that increasing access to vaccination sites in underserved communities and providing culturally relevant education about the vaccine may help to reduce disparities in vaccination coverage.

Overall, these sources provide valuable information on the problem of racial and ethnic disparities in COVID-19 contraction rate and access to the vaccine. They help me to understand the extent of the disparities, the factors that contribute to them, and potential strategies for addressing them.

Sample Answer

Topic: Racial and ethnic disparities in contraction rate or access to the vaccine

Sources:

  • COVID-19 Vaccination Coverage by Race and Ethnicity by the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF)
  • Racial and Ethnic Disparities in COVID-19 Vaccine Uptake: A Mediation Framework published in the journal Preventing Chronic Disease
  • Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Getting COVID-19 Vaccine: Do Age, Gender, and Education Matter? published in the journal JAMA Network Open