COVID-19 Vaccinations Ramp up in Tribal Communities

Joseph Rupnick, Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation Tribal Council Chairman Photo Credit: Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation/Michelle Simon

COVID-19 vaccinations among many American Indian tribal nations have been fast and efficient. An analysis by NPR shows that some tribes are vaccinating at a much faster rate than U.S. averages. Over 1.6 million doses of vaccine have been distributed to tribal nations across 11 Indian Health Service (IHS) areas. As of April 19, 1,164,179 total doses of the Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson vaccines have been administered to American Indians.

Vaccinations could not come fast enough to tribal nations who have been disproportionally impacted by the COVID-19 virus. Tribal communities have seen hospitalization rates 3.5 times those of Whites and death rates nearly 2.5 times rates in White communities. Tribes and urban Indian organizations had the option to receive vaccines from either their respective states or from IHS. Tribal communities opting to go with IHS, were generally pleased with this choice. For example, the Confederated Salish and Kootenai tribe were initially only given 200 vaccines a week through the state disbursement, while the White Mountain Apache Tribe in Arizona, who opted to go with IHS, has been holding daily clinics that can provide 180 vaccinations a day. Some communities have even outpaced state vaccine distribution. The Rosebud Sioux Tribe in South Dakota, for example, have vaccinated tribal members at double the rate of South Dakota’s general population.  

​Tribes around the country have stepped up to not only secure and provide vaccines to their tribal members, but have also been able to provide vaccines to the non-Native communities surrounding them. The Confederate Tribes of Grand Ronde in Siletz in Oregon, through their tribal clinic, vaccinated the entire Portland Trailblazers basketball team. The hesitancy to trust and get the vaccine in tribal communities is expected. However, tribal leaders have stepped up to lead and demonstrate to their communities that they are willing to be vaccinated. The Chairman of the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation in Kansas became the first individual in this community to receive the vaccine.

More information on the COVID-19 vaccine can be found here.

For information on getting vaccinated in your area, check in with local your local IHS service area office, or your tribal health clinic. 
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Warrior Women 

On March 31, the Institute for Indigenous Studies hosted a screening of the documentary, Warrior Women, and a post-screening discussion with the documentary’s stars, Madonna Thunder Hawk and Marcella Gilbert. This event was sponsored by the Institute for Indigenous Studies and the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Madonna Thunder Hawk is an Oohenumpa Lakota elder from the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe of South Dakota.  Born and raised on Lakota lands she was involved with the Red Power Movement of the 1960s and 1970s from its beginning taking part in the Occupation of Alcatraz in 1969, the Wounded Knee Occupation of 1973, and the #NoDAPL protests at Standing Rock in 2016.  She was involved with the American Indian Movement (AIM), is one of the co-founders of Woman of All Red Nations (WARN) and the Black Hills Alliance.  She is currently involved with the Lakota People’s Law Project, Native resistance, Native rights, and Native sovereignty and self-determination are the themes of her work and her life.

Marcella Gilbert is Lakota and Dakota and lives on the Cheyenne River reservation in South Dakota.  She is a long-time member of the American Indian Movement and the We Will Remember Survival Group. She is the co-founder of the Nazo Society, dedicated to raising awareness about violence and human trafficking of Native women and girls.  She has a Master’s Degree in Nutrition and uses her education in her work as a community organizer who focuses on food sovereignty and cultural revitalization.  She recently launched a radio and internet podcast about nutrition through KIPI 93.5, the Cheyenne River tribe’s radio station. 

During a brief question and answer session after the screening, Thunder Hawk and Gilbert discussed their current work promoting Indigenous issues. While explaining her work with, Gilbert explained, that's the kind of [cultural] information I’m giving to young people, because it's information that they're not getting anywhere, it's not available anywhere, so I tried to give them stuff to just remind them that, you are significant, you are a special person, you have valuable knowledge and culture that can you know empower your life moving forward." 

A frequent question that AIHREA team members are asked is "what can non-Native people do to help?" When asked this question, Thunder Hawk stated, “First of all, it's not your responsibility to educate them, it's their responsibility to educate themselves, so if they want to know what's happening in Indian Country, then do the research. You know, see what's going on, look at our history and take the time to have those conversations." She went on to say "people who are like yourselves, who are involved in these academic institutions have a very large responsibility. You guys can change history, you guys can change the direction of this country because you're educating young people." She went on to say, "pick an issue in Indian country. There's people working on it ,there's people trying to save our lives, trying to save our language, trying to save our lands and our water……food everything, so there isn't a lack of resources, there's a lack of action."

Stay tuned here for announcement about future events and film screenings!