Center in the News

“Denying a segment of our population access to vaccines because of paperwork” won’t end the pandemic any sooner, Ponce said.

Despite state policy that says immigration status does not affect vaccine eligibility, the county requires a photo ID and proof of age to receive a vaccine at its clinics, according to its policies published on the county’s website. Ninez Ponce, a professor at UCLA’s Fielding School of Public Health, said the county’s photo ID policy, and the chilling effect it could have on vaccination rates among undocumented. “Denying a segment of our population access to vaccines because of paperwork” won’t end the pandemic any sooner, Ponce said. People should be concerning for everyone in the community.

"This NHPI community is like the canary in the coal mine." "When the data first came out about COVID cases and deaths by race, ethnicity, I was, frankly, really shocked." "Other states didn't even have data on Native Hawaiian Pacific Islanders."

Before COVID began spreading, there was a demand for more granular data on race, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, etc. With the data collection challenges that occurred during the pandemic, identity data became even more sparse, leading to more inequities. In addition to needing more resources to collect that kind of information, I also think there needs to be investment in NCHS surveys, because they are a portal into what pains Americans are experiencing.

Because data on Asian Americans remain aggregated, knowledge about FilAm issues goes widely unnoticed. At a surface level, Asian Americans appear healthier than Whites, lending credence that Asian Americans can be deemphasized in research, funding, and medical attention or interventions.

According to Fil-Am, Dr. Ninez Ponce of the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, who has been tracking the progress made in insurance coverage over the last 20 years, there are still healthcare disparities within the AAPI community. "These are the people who are most at risk for being uninsured and for the 18 to 65 group, those that are working. So being healthy is really important. The uninsured rate has gone down dramatically for all races following the pattern of decline... but there's still room for all groups to get coverage," Ponce notes.

Ponce points out, "When you look within the

Dr. Ninez Ponce, director at the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, a professor at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health and the Principal Investigator for the California Health Interview Survey (CHIS), has been tracking the progress made in health insurance coverage for over two decades. Dr. Ponce spoke about the health insurance and health care disparities in the AANHPI communities.

We are so grateful to the APHA Aging and Public Health Section for renaming the lifetime achievement award in Steve Wallace’s honor,” said Ninez Ponce, professor of health policy and management and director of the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research. “Steve Wallace was a trailblazer, who fought tirelessly for older adults and communities of color … Steve was a remarkable person, who made a difference in the lives of so many people, and his legacy will live on through all of us.