New York Racial Geometry Vaccination

(New York) After being hit the hardest by the coronavirus pandemic in the United States, blacks and Hispanics in New York now lag significantly behind whites in vaccinations.

Published on February 6, 2021 at 7:00 a.m.

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Richard Hetu

Special cooperation

Puddles of melting snow on street corners. Towering snowdrifts along sidewalks. Almost non-existent parking spaces. Two days after a major winter storm in New York, there were plenty of obstacles around the Fort Washington armory, transformed since mid-January into a COVID-19 vaccination center.

But, to hear Iris Lopez, these obstacles were only added to those she had already had to overcome to register and obtain an appointment at the center located in Washington Heights, in northern Manhattan.

PHOTO RICHARD HÉTU, SPECIAL COLLABORATION

Iris Lopez

"It took me four days to hit the jackpot," said the resident of this neighborhood where nearly 70% of the population is of Hispanic origin. “I had to call a phone number and visit at least three websites before I found the right one. And it was only last Friday that I had my appointment for February 2 at 7:15 a.m. And it was canceled because of the snowstorm! »

The 76-year-old retired nurse decided on Wednesday to try her luck. She went to the vaccination center to see if she could still get her first dose of one of the vaccines given in the United States against COVID-19.

"I'm anxious," she said, walking briskly toward the entrance. “I hear that people with money or influence come to neighborhoods like ours and pass before others. »

“Everyone freaks out with the variants,” she added.

Racial disparities

Iris Lopez isn't entirely wrong. Until the end of January, residents of the suburbs or more affluent neighborhoods of New York, mostly white, took advantage of the opening of the large vaccination center in Washington Heights to receive their first injection against COVID- 19. They didn't have to shell out money or play their influence. But their ease with navigating the Internet may have helped them land dates faster than residents 65 and older in Washington Heights or other black and Hispanic neighborhoods in New York City.

Result: after being hardest hit by the coronavirus pandemic, of which New York was the epicenter in the United States for several weeks, the city's blacks and Hispanics are now significantly behind whites on the vaccination plan, according to preliminary data released last Sunday.

Of nearly 300,000 New Yorkers who received a first injection and whose ethnicity was recorded, 48% were white, 15% Hispanic, 15% Asian and 11% black. Hispanics and blacks make up approximately 29% and 24% of New York's population, respectively.

These data do not take into account approximately 300,000 doses administered to New Yorkers whose ethnicity was not recorded. But racial disparities in vaccination have also been noted in Washington, Miami, Philadelphia and Chicago, among other places.

In several American cities, in fact, white people have secured appointments to be vaccinated in neighborhoods where they normally never set foot.

The “confusing” registration system

"It's a serious injustice," said Malo Hutson, a Columbia University urban planning professor and health equity expert, of the New York situation. “It is an injustice that the people who have died disproportionately from COVID-19 are not the ones lining up to get vaccinated. »

Professor Hutson blames this in part on a registration system that “is confusing to many”.

Awareness was not what it should have been. If you are dealing with the most vulnerable people, you need to engage them in this vaccination process.

Malo Hutson, professor of urban planning at Columbia University

At a press conference, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio promised to “aggressively and creatively” tackle the “deep disparities” revealed by preliminary vaccination data. On Wednesday, he announced with New York Governor Andrew Cuomo that Yankee Stadium in the Bronx will be turned into a vaccination center starting this weekend.

PHOTO CARLO ALLEGRI, REUTERS

Bill de Blasio, mayor of New York, at a press conference on Friday outside Yankee Stadium, which has been transformed into a vaccination center

But Malo Hutson does not understand why it had to come to this. “It is a failure of the government to properly prepare and be ready to deploy the system. The responsibility goes from the federal government to the local government. But I don't know how New York City couldn't be ready for that,” he said.

A “lucky” New Yorker

In Washington Heights, even before data on racial disparities among New York City's vaccinees were released, administrators at the vaccination site changed the eligibility criteria. Since January 27, no commuter can make appointments there, as these are now reserved for residents of the city.

Additionally, at least 60% of dates must go to people in five black and Hispanic New York neighborhoods — Inwood, Washington Heights, North Harlem, Central Harlem and South Bronx.

Bronx resident Kenny Brown considers himself one of the "lucky" New Yorkers. He received a first shot of Moderna's vaccine after a routine visit to his doctor.

"They had doses left over after vaccinating all the medical staff," the 68-year-old said outside the Washington Heights vaccination center. “They asked me if I wanted an injection. I replied: of course. And they arranged an appointment for me for the second injection I just had. I was lucky. I didn't have to worry about anything. »

Iris Lopez, whose first date was canceled due to the snowstorm, also bragged about her luck on Wednesday. “I am ecstatic! “, she exclaimed after learning from the mouth of a security guard that she could be vaccinated the same day. A small victory in a battle where New York's most vulnerable won't always be able to rely on luck.