Vaccination in New York City, once the epicenter of the pandemic, has been plagued by stark racial disparities, with African American and Hispanic residents receiving far fewer doses than white residents, Mayor Bill de Blasio.
Demographics for the city were incomplete, but available information revealed for the first time that white New Yorkers are more easily navigating the city’s complicated vaccination system.
Of nearly 300,000 city residents who received a dose and whose race was recorded, about 48 percent were white, 15 percent were Hispanic, 15 percent were Asian and 11 percent were African American. Hispanic and African-American residents were underrepresented: the city’s population is approximately 29 percent Hispanic and 24 percent African-American.
The disparities were even more stark among city residents 65 and older: Only 9 percent of the roughly 125,000 older New Yorkers vaccinated were African-American.
De Blasio, a Democrat in his second term, said he was frustrated that New Yorkers in African-American communities, which were hit hardest by the pandemic, were not vaccinated. He vowed to address the problem by improving the appointment scheduling system and increasing the reach in more languages.
“Clearly, we see a deep disparity that needs to be addressed aggressively and creatively,” de Blasio said at a news conference.
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