New York City Releases COVID Vaccination Data By Zip Code
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) - We're getting our first look at who has been vaccinated in New York City.
The mayor says it shows disparities across the boroughs that they're trying to fight.
As CBS2's Andrea Grymes reports, it's a lot of data, broken down by zip code.
To see it, CLICK HERE.
Neighbors Sinny and Danny were talking on the corner in their Washington Heights neighborhood. Sinny got both shots of the COVID vaccine down the block at the armory. Danny... not yet.
"One, two, three, done," Sinny said.
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"On all the news, all I hear is that it has been very difficult... to get an appointment," Danny said.
Washington Heights was one of the city's hot spot areas. Now, according to just-released data from the city, 13% of adults in the 10032 zip code are fully or partially vaccinated.
Watch Andrea Grymes' report --
In Corona, Queens - another hotspot - the numbers are worse. Just 5% of adults in the zip code 11368 have been fully or partially vaccinated.
"It's not fair and it's not equitable for communities that have been ravaged by COVID," Councilman Francisco Moya told CBS2's Jessica Layton.
Moya says the data released by the city Tuesday confirms what he already knew about major inequities with vaccine distribution and accessibility in the city's communities of color. He admits there's also an element of mistrust.
"How much of this is people who can't get it versus people who just don't want to get it?" Layton asked.
"Look, I think it's a combination of both, but what we're seeing more than anything else really is lack of ability to get an appointment," Moya said.
The mayor isn't denying the disparities or the disjointed appointment system.
"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," Mayor Bill de Blasio said.
The map marks the most vaccinated areas in dark shades of blue. City Island, the Bronx, is leading, with 51% of adults there fully or partially vaccinated.
It's 40% in Breezy Point, Queens, home to a lot of first responders.
City officials have pushed to put more vaccination sites in hotspot areas to address disparities. They say they're dealing with not enough vaccine supply, plus too many people who simply don't want it.
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"What we're hearing is there are questions around timeline and the science and how quickly the vaccine was developed," said Dr. Torian Easterling, chief equity officer of the New York City Department of Health.
"Just as we've seen a smaller proportion of vaccine going to Black and Brown New Yorkers, we see these geographic disparities baring out as well," he added.
"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," de Blasio said.
Washington Heights Councilman Mark Levine says the appointment system is also a big problem across the board, and helps drive inequality.
"The system for making an appointment is deeply problematic. It requires people to navigate dozens of different websites, to sign up again and again, to do eligibility screens again and again, just to see if an appointment is available," Levine said.
Levine said in a tweet that in some wealthy, whiter areas, 16% of adults have been fully vaccinated while some low-income neighborhoods of color have vaccination numbers as low as 2%.
Moya says there must been a better way to reach the most vulnerable, even if that means setting up tables on street corners in hard-hit communities.
"Put the Department of Health officials out there to help people register, then we have to do that and in multiple languages," Moya said.
Tuesday night during a town hall with CNN, President Joe Biden was asked about how he will tackle the inequities in vaccine distribution nationwide.
"I also am providing for mobile, mobile vans, mobile units to go into neighborhoods that are hard to get to," Biden said. "The fact is if you're 70 years old, you don't have a vehicle and you live in a tough neighborhood -- meaning it's a high concentration of COVID -- you're not likely to be able to walk five miles to go get a vaccine."
Meanwhile, the City Council is holding a hearing Wednesday morning on legislation that seeks to simplify the appointment system.
CBS2's Jessica Layton contributed to this report.
