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De Blasio’s vaccine equity plan
The De Blasio administration is working to make sure that the communities hit hardest by the coronaviurs pandemic get their fair share of vaccinations.
NEW YORK - The DeBlasio administration is ready to hit the ground running as soon as Monday when the city officially opens its first-ever coronavirus vaccine command center.
Frontline workers and high-risk residents remain first on the list, but the mayor also wants to ensure that lower-income communities get vaccinated quickly and equitably.
“We saw what happened to Black communities, Latino communities, Asian communities in this crisis. We saw how people did not experience the coronavirus equally,” DeBlasio said.
DeBlasio’s vaccine equity plan will focus on distributing doses to twenty-seven of the hardest-hit neighborhoods as soon as they arrive in New York City.
The task force on racial inclusion and equity will be spearheading that effort by expanding community outreach and setting up health and hospital clinics at NYCHA housing developments.
“We know there is a trust gap. We know a lot of people are uncertain about the vaccine,” DeBlasio acknowledged.
“We will promote transparency and address mistrust. The concerns around vaccine safety and misinformation, we know they exist,” Torian Easterling, First Deputy Commissioner and Chief Equity Officer of the city’s health department.
Even though the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene will be hosting virtual conversations with residents and community leaders to address those concerns, many people are still skeptical, including Carmen Quinones.
“Yesterday I gave out 6,000 pounds of food and that was the topic of discussion when they came to me: ‘Carmen, what do you think? I’m scared. I’ve got enough going on with my system. I don’t know how it’s gonna react. I don’t trust it,” she explains.
Quinones is president of the Tenant Association at the Frederick Douglass Houses on the Upper West Side.
She tells Fox 5 most of the development’s 2,900 tenants, especially seniors, have expressed fears about vaccine safety.
Quinones believes the city should, instead, prioritize NYCHA’s long list of unresolved issues.
“You come up with a vaccine so fast but you can’t come up with things to fix in public housing. you can’t come up with getting all the mold out of these apartments,” Quinones adds.
According to the Mayor’s office, the city is expected to receive about 465,000 doses of the vaccine by the beginning of January.
The vaccine command center will provide real-time updates to New Yorkers and help healthcare workers with any troubleshooting.