Divisions of Queens, Hunts Point in the Bronx, and Eastern New York and Brownsville in Brooklyn were among the lowest percentage of residents to receive at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine, according to new data released by the city health department on Tuesday. . Manhattan had the highest vaccination rate. The South Bronx, Central Brooklyn and parts of Queens were left behind.
Corona, Queens, which was once part of the center of the city’s coronavirus boom, had the lowest vaccination rate in the city at 2.7%. Only 1.9% of the adult population were fully vaccinated with two doses.
Areas populated mainly by people of color – Hunts Point, Ocean Hill, Brownsville, Eastern New York, Cypress Hills, South Jamaica, Springfield Gardens, St. Albans, Rosedale and Laurelton – showed between 3.1% and 3.4% residents with at least one dose. Census data looking at zip code after demographics show that these neighborhoods are overwhelmingly filled with residents of Black or Latino. A portion of Midtown, mostly white, reported similar vaccine coverage, but was an outlier compared to most white neighborhoods in the five districts.
City Island and Breezy Point are the highest, with about one in four residents partially vaccinated, followed by the Queens joint communities of Bellerose and Douglaston-Little Neck. About one in ten people in Upper East Side and Upper West Side also received at least one shot.
Some of the zip code data showed inequalities that the city saw in the pandemic, in which rich, white communities outperform low-income colors. Last month, the demographic data of the mayor’s office showed that three white residents received a dose for every black or Latino New Yorker who was vaccinated.
“A lot of this is about the underlying painful inequalities to begin with and inequalities to begin with,” Mayor Bill de Blasio told reporters during a Tuesday press release in which the statistics were released. ‘People with more privilege are best able to navigate this process. People who have more confidence in the vaccine are going to put more effort into getting it. ”
Those who earn the most money in the city receive the most doses if they take into account their income. For those in zip codes with an average household income of about $ 66,000, the full vaccination rate was 6.3% – nearly twice the rate of neighborhoods below annual income, according to a Gothamist analysis. Dr Torian Easterling, chief health officer of the health department, said the data would be a ‘roadmap’ to determine how to proceed to curb vaccine inequalities.
Several neighborhoods in Manhattan with income levels between $ 100,000 and $ 150,000 have vaccination rates of between 7.5% and 15% with two doses. Although the compound was not universal, several Bronx neighborhoods fully vaccinated 1.4% to 3.7% of adults, with incomes below $ 42,000.
There is still no trend among the neighborhoods hit hardest or lightest in terms of mortality rate. But the full vaccination rate rose from 4.9% to 6.3% between neighborhoods above and below the average death rate of about 101 per 100,000 people. The data does not unravel the percentage of residents who are eligible, compared to how many have been vaccinated.
De Blasio insisted the vaccine program was designed with the historical health inequalities in NYC, and with enough vaccine doses, he says about half a million a week, the inequalities would be alleviated. But he also made a mistake with the hesitation of vaccines and mistrust because he exacerbated the gaps into who is vaccinated.
Vaccines have been set up in the Bronx at Yankee Stadium and Queens’ Citi Field in recent days to help nearby residents gain access to the shot. “We need supplies and we need time to win people’s confidence and ease with the vaccine,” de Blasio added.
Easterling said he was concerned about a COVID-19 vaccine about how quickly the shots developed and about the consequences for fertility, although the data show that the drugs are safe for anyone eligible.