New data has revealed shocking disparities between New York City neighborhoods when it comes to COVID-19 vaccination rates.
On Tuesday, the city’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene released coronavirus immunization rates by ZIP code.
In wealthier, white neighborhoods such as the Upper East, Douglaston and City Island, as many as 25 percent of all adults have received both doses of the COVID-19 vaccine.
But in low-income and minority neighborhoods – which have been hit the hardest when it comes to cases and deaths – vaccination rates are lagging.
Areas such as The South Bronx, parts of central Queens and central Brooklyn have among the lowest rates in New York City with just two percent of all adults fully inoculated against the virus.
New vaccination data by ZIP code in New York City shows fully vaccinated rates as high as 25% in wealthier, white neighborhoods (dark blue) but as low as 2% in poor, minority neighborhoods (light blue)
These are the same ZIP codes that have been hit hardest by the pandemic, with coronavirus infection rates as high as 7,600 cases per 100,000 (left) and death rates as high as 343 deaths per 100.000 people
The data showed seven percent of all Manhattan residents are vaccinated with neighborhoods such as Lincoln Square and Lenox Hill reporting rates as high as 16 percent
Staten Island is the second-most vaccinated borough with six percent of all residents having received both shots.
In the primarily white neighborhood of Douglaston, in Queens, data shows that 20 percent of all adults are fully inoculated.
And City Island, a neighborhood in the Bronx mostly made up of Caucasian residents, 25 percent have been given both jabs.
Many of these areas have reported relatively low coronavirus death rates at around 163 deaths per 100,000, according to city data.
However, rates in the South Bronx, parts of central Queens and central Brooklyn -mostly minority communities – lag behind.
Neighborhoods like Mott Haven, Bedford-Stuyvesant and South Jamaica report just two percent of all adults have been fully vaccinated.
COVID-19 death rates in these ZIP codes have been much higher with as many as 343 of every 100.000 people dying from the disease.
‘Just as we’ve seen a much smaller portion of vaccines going to Black and brown New Yorkers, we see these geographic disparities bearing out as well,’ said Dr Torian Easterling, chief equity officer of the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.
In New York City, white residents are three-fold more likely to received the coronavirus vaccine that Latinos residents and four-fold more likely than black residents
Vaccination rates are in-line with population share for white people, but blacks and Latinos have accounted for just 5.4% and 11.5% of vaccinations despite comprising 12.5% and 19% of the US population, according to CDC data
De Blasio said he believes the recent opening of mass vaccination sites at Citi Field in Queens and Yankee Stadium in The Bronx, reserved of residents of those boroughs, will drive up immunization rates. Pictured: People line up at a COVID-19 vaccination site at Citi Field, February 10
The inequities cast a spotlight on the vaccine rollout, which New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said shows ‘profound’ racial disparities.]
In New York City, white residents are three-fold more likely to receive the coronavirus vaccine than Latinos residents and four-fold more likely than black residents, city demographic data revealed.
Yet, according to CDC data, black and Latino Americans are about 1.5 times more likely to contact the virus than white Americans and about three times more likely to die.
De Blasio said the low vaccination rates in minority communities is due to mix of distrust and racial inequality.
‘We have a lot of work to do,’ he said on Tuesday.
”A lot of this is about underlying painful disparities and inequalities to begin with. Folks who have more privilege are best able to navigate this process. Folks who have more confidence in the vaccine are going to go through more effort to get it.’
Easterling said more of an emphasis needs to placed on vaccine education so residents feel comfortable enough to take it.
He said two common complains he hears are that the [vaccine causes fertility problems, and that it was the product of a rushed and unsafe scientific process.]
‘The important part is not just earning the trust around vaccines, but also making our communities feel that we’re out here to really serve them,’ Easterling said.
De Blasio said he believes the recent opening of mass vaccination sites at Citi Field in Queens and Yankee Stadium in The Bronx, reserved of residents of those boroughs, will drive up immunization rates.
‘This is about addressing inequality, doing something very tangible about it. This effort will not stop. We are going to go deeper and deeper into communities to ensure there’s equity,’ he said.