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COVID-19 vaccination numbers are lagging in poorer communities and Black and Brown communities, despite multiple efforts to funnel vaccines to these areas.
For example, The Bronx, NYC’s poorest borough and once COVID-19’s epicenter, has just 69 locations at which to receive the inoculation – that’s half the number in Manhattan, despite having roughly the same population.
And this is reflective of national trends.
One of the key reasons behind this is the costs of administering vaccines. Each vaccine requires approximately $75 to administer, including staffing, overhead, supplies, etc., yet medicaid and medicare only cover approximately $15 of this cost, according to the Bronx Rising Initiative, which has been covering these costs for local clinics in the Bronx. This has left local clinics – the ones marginalized communities know and trust and where they are more likely to turn for medical care – scrambling to afford the vaccines.
The Bronx Rising Initiative has funded the vaccinations of over 3,500 Bronx residents, through clinics and popups at public housing (which you can read about in the NYT), since the beginning of the year.
