‘PROBLEM OF PRIVILEGE’

Bill de Blasio Vows to Confront ‘Profound’ Racial Gap in NYC’s COVID-19 Vaccine Take-Up

The disparity “needs to be addressed aggressively and creatively,” de Blasio said. “We’ve got a profound problem of distrust and hesitancy, particularly in communities of color.”

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said Sunday there was a “profound disparity” when it came to the communities in the city that had received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Data collected by the city shows that white residents, who make up a third of NYC’s population, comprise nearly half—48%—of the 297,166 residents who have received at least one dose of the vaccine.

Latinos, 29% of the city, accounted for 15% of those vaccinated, Bloomberg reported. Black residents, a quarter of New York City’s population, accounted for only 11% of those vaccinated. 40% of the recipients, the data revealed, did not record their ethnicity.

The disparity “needs to be addressed aggressively and creatively,” de Blasio said. “We’ve got a profound problem of distrust and hesitancy, particularly in communities of color,” he added on a conference call, quoted in the Post. “We’ve got a problem of privilege, clearly, where folks who have been privileged have been able to access the [vaccines] with greater ease… We’ve got to have a more systematic approach to ensuring that we focus on the places where the danger is greatest.”

Bloomberg reported that residents living in so-called “taskforce neighborhoods,” with high COVID death and case rates, poverty, and health disparities, would now receive prioritized vaccine appointments.