Bad data input is plaguing the District’s attempt to track the race and ethnicity of those who have gotten the coronavirus vaccine.

The District released its first batch of data on race and ethnicity on Monday, but D.C. Department of Health director Dr. LaQuandra Nesbitt is telling people not to read much into it.

“No conclusions can be drawn by this race and ethnicity data,” she said during a Monday press conference.

Healthcare providers have not been inputting race or ethnicity data for tens of thousands of people, according to Nesbitt. The health department is working with those administering the vaccine to make the data more complete going forward.

As of Monday, D.C. has distributed 62,219 doses of the vaccine — accounting for 74.8 of the District’s supply. Records for nearly 1 in 5 people don’t have race data inputted. Nearly 3 in 5 recipients’ records don’t specify ethnicity.

Reporters have been asking for the release of the information, and Nesbitt did though she didn’t think it was complete enough to offer good answers.

People who have had at least one dose of the vaccine include:

• Other: 23,551
• White: 17,520
• Missing data: 11,380
• Black: 9,967

Nestbitt said the race and ethnicity data should not be added together as one person has both a race and ethnicity. It’s unclear why providers did not fill out ethnicity data as much as race data.

• Missing ethnicity data: 35,965
• Non-hispanic: 25,463
• Hispanic: 1,625

The data comes from the District’s immunization system where healthcare providers report an individual’s age, gender, address, race, and ethnicity.

“If health care providers do not collect information on race and ethnicity … that data can not be analyzed and provided to the public,” Nesbitt said. “And that data, more importantly, cannot help to drive the District’s plan for a safe, effective and equitable immunization program.”

Asked about the number of Hispanic residents getting vaccinated, Nesbitt didn’t want to get into it because of how patchy the data is.

“I would make any inference from that at all. At all. There’s so much data missing. I have no interpretation to make from that,” Nesbitt said. “I will tell you is that we are already focused on Black and brown communities because we need to focus on Black and brown communities.”

Black and brown communities have been hit hardest by the coronavirus, but those same communities are more reluctant to get the vaccine, Nesbitt said. Black Americans have been subject to unethical medical studies, which has led to a lack of trust in health systems.

“(We have) a bridge that we need to cross in terms of addressing vaccine confidence,” Nesbitt said. “So when you look at health care workers, you have Black and brown people who are saying, ‘I want to see what happens to the first cohort of people,’ even though the first cohort of people are the folks who participated in the clinical trials. … I’m constantly reminding people we are in week eight of implementation of the program now.”

Some residents have also been concerned about inequities in vaccine distribution. Appointments for eligible residents — including health care workers and those over 65 — fill up quickly, sometimes within minutes after the signup window opens. Last month, DC Health added more than 4,000 new vaccine appointments earmarked for residents in wards 1, 4, 5, 7, and 8, which saw the fewest sign-ups. Others say technological challenges are keeping some residents from accessing appointments.

But the real solution, Nesbitt says, is getting more vaccines for the District.

“We don’t have enough vaccine,” she said.