Bacon's Rebellion

Democracy Thrives in Sunlight

VDH Still Can’t Count

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by

James A. Bacon
in ,

by Carol J. Bova

In a blog post published yesterday, I noted that the Virginia Department of Health (VDH) COVID-19 dashboard breaks down vaccination status by racial/ethnic group and by age, but not by racial/ethnic groups and age.

Thinking that VDH might possess the data, even if it had chosen not to publish it, I submitted a Freedom of Information Act request. The answer can be seen in the screen grab above: “The record does not exist.”

I’m convinced the VDH is back to its old trick of not keeping track of statistics so it can manipulate public perception. If I’m wrong in that, I invite anyone from VDH or the Governor’s Office to come forward and explain how they are missing racial/ethnic information on 353,731 fully vaccinated and 436,056 partly vaccinated individuals. (See the table below.) That’s not counting the 268,386 categorized as “Other” race/ethnicity left out of the percentages, presumably because they belong to one of the groups that are listed. That’s 1.06 million racial/ethnic group unknowns.

At the same time, VDH claims to know the age of everyone receiving a vaccine dose, and the sex of all but just under 22,000 partly and 17,000 fully vaccinated.

Without knowing the racial/ethnic groups of more than a million “Other” and “Not reported,” there is no way to know exactly which group or groups are vaccine-resistant, much less develop an effective plan to contact them and encourage vaccination.

If VDH isn’t being deceptive, then everyone responsible for the accounting is incompetent. Whichever reason it is — deliberate deception or total incompetence — it’s past time for a major shakeup of the organization–from the top down.

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12 responses to “VDH Still Can’t Count”

  1. how_it_works Avatar
    how_it_works

    I’d just like to know if they hired Enron accountants to come up with the 101.9% rate for Native Americans…

    Seriously, an error like that calls into question the accuracy of the data, and the attention to detail (or lack thereof) of the individual responsible for tabulating it.

    1. Stephen Haner Avatar
      Stephen Haner

      Having my own experience trying to obtain proof of my own shots, I consider it credible that racial/ethnic info was missing on that many records. Shots in doc offices, at pharmacies, with volunteer workers at clinics…it didn’t get noted or entered, I bet. (I too have gotten a laugh over the Native American thing. Maybe they were the first to get the third shot!)

      Every health interaction these days starts with DOB, so not surprised the age data is more complete. THAT was on my record (where I was referred to as “Steve” which is not my legal name.)

      I do think we really need the data broken down by the 15 or 20 different gender categories now so important to so many….not just the two which the “woken” don’t even want to recognize based on mere physiology….

      1. how_it_works Avatar
        how_it_works

        I had someone try to tell me that all these additional genders correspond to differing X/Y chromosome combinations.

        I tried to explain that anything other than XY or XX is very rare and considered a genetic disorder.

        That didn’t go over very well.

        By the way, did you know that a male calico cat has at least two X chromosomes in addition to a Y chromosome? In humans that’s called Klinefelter Syndrome, and is why male calico cats are very rare.

  2. Publius Avatar
    Publius

    Why does the answer have to be either/or?
    Embrace the power of “and!”

  3. LarrytheG Avatar
    LarrytheG

    I strongly suspect that the FOIA person at VDH has a list of folks who have made multiple FOIA requests and gives them special attention. 😉

  4. Dick Hall-Sizemore Avatar
    Dick Hall-Sizemore

    I am willing to bet that the agency has the data. Based on my experience with FOIA requests with other agencies, it is likely that VDH has not run a report breaking it down by race and age, so it is providing the standard FOiA dodge of “information does not exist”.

    1. LarrytheG Avatar
      LarrytheG

      I suspect the raw data exists. Not sure if it is FOIAable.

    2. CJBova Avatar
      CJBova

      The wording is the key: it’s not the information doesn’t exist; it’s the record doesn’t exist. If you don’t run the report=no record! Besides, how can they play the disparities game with facts?

  5. James Wyatt Whitehead Avatar
    James Wyatt Whitehead

    Perhaps VDH is using an old DMV manual to run their operation for counting.

    1. LarrytheG Avatar
      LarrytheG

      Had fun with VDOT a few years back. FOIAed a subject, and was invited to Richmond and a ‘reading room’ with a copier. Did our thing. 10 days later received a bill for $700 odd dollars.. 😉

      Used to be a fellow – Frosty Landon who worked for the Virginia Coalition for Open Govt. He was helpful in advising and said that was a VDOT tactic.

      https://www.opengovva.org/blog/frosty-landons-legacy-open-government-all

  6. tmtfairfax Avatar
    tmtfairfax

    So if we cannot keep accurate records on race & ethnicity here, how the hell do we expect to do the same with respect to traffic stops?

    1. DJRippert Avatar
      DJRippert

      Accurate facts and figures undermine liberal dogma. How many times have we heard from the left that America hates “people of color”?

      How many times have Asian Americans been counted as the highest earning, best educated racial group in America?

      Facts thwart intentional liberal misconceptions.

      No wonder the Northam Administration doesn’t dirty its hands with facts and figures.

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