Long-term physical damages of virus concern health official
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| Dr. Joneigh S. Khaldun |
Khaldun is the Chief Medical Executive and Chief Deputy Director for Health for the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS). In these roles, she provides medical guidance for the State of Michigan and oversees the Public Health, Medical Services, Aging and Adult Services, and Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities administrations. If that job isn't enough to keep her busy, she also works in the emergency department at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit.
In that role, she has seen several patients coming in for treatment after having been taken off respirators or otherwise cleared by doctors of COVID-19.
That is only one of Khaldun's concerns about COVID. While the vaccine against the virus could be arriving in Michigan as early as this week, there is a “vaccine hesitancy” among minority communities that the doctor finds troubling.
“If people do not get vaccinated, we will see deaths expand,” she said, “and the African American population has been disproportionately affected by this disease.” That would indicate, she said, a subsequent disproportionate disparity increase in deaths in minority populations. Asian and Hispanic populations, too, are subject to a higher rate of COVID infection.
Khaldun said that the state departments will make a concentrated effort to reach underserved and minority communities to provide information and educations regarding the necessity of being vaccinated. While she expects the first doses could arrive in the state this week, there will initially be a very limited supply. There is a priority ranking for vaccinations with health care workers, EMS workers long term care residents and staff at the top of the roster for vaccinations followed by educators, employees in food manufacturing and then those older than 65, she said.
She said she expects availability of the vaccine to the general public in late spring of next year, and that her department and others in the state will be working to provide information regarding the importance of vaccinations.
She said the disparate effect of COVID on communities of color may be due to the incidental racism sometimes prevalent in the medical community. She said that skepticism regarding the vaccine and treatment is understandable, but that it is important for these communities to have access to the facts and internalize the importance to them, and their families, of being vaccinated to prevent further infection and deaths due to COVID.
“We're going to be as transparent as possible so people have good information,” she said. “The vaccine is a tool we have to fight this disease.”
She said that her department and the state would be utilizing media outlets and local medical providers and health departments, along with hospital leaders and front-line providers to try to educate minority communities about the importance of getting the vaccine.
Prior to her roles at MDHHS, Khaldun was the director and health officer for the Detroit Health Department, where she oversaw a robust community-driven community health assessment, established a comprehensive reproductive health network and led the Detroit response to the Hepatitis A outbreak. In 2018, Khaldun was selected for the 40 Under 40 Leaders in Minority Health Award by the National Minority Quality Forum; she also is a Fellow of the American College of Emergency Physicians (FACEP).
Previously, Khaldun was the Baltimore City Health Department chief medical officer, where she oversaw seven clinics and a laboratory and led efforts to address the opioid epidemic. She has held several local and national leadership positions, including director of the Center for Injury Prevention and Control at George Washington University, founder and director of the Fellowship in Health Policy in the University of Maryland Department of Emergency Medicine, and as a Fellow in President ObamaDr. Joneigh S. Khaldun administration's Office of Health Reform.
