Chicago Mayor Pledges Vaccination Push In Minority Neighborhoods
CHICAGO — So far, more than half of coronavirus vaccine shots distributed in the city have found their way in to the arms of white Chicagoans, officials said Monday while announcing a push to boost vaccinations in Black and Hispanic neighborhoods.
While demographic data on who has been inoculated in Chicago isn't available, scientific modeling shows that white people make up 53-percent of folks who have received a first vaccine dose in Chicago, compared to 15 percent of Black and 17 percent of Hispanic and 14 percent of Asian residents, city officials said.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot's administration has launched an initiative that aims to push vaccine supply to 15 "high-need" minority communities.
"As I’ve said often during the pandemic, equity is not only part of our COVID-19 strategy, equity is our strategy," Lightfoot said. "All of us, city government and our many important community partners, need to work every day to ensure the vaccine is getting to those who need it most, and that when it’s available people take it."
The so-called "Protect Chicago Plus" program calls for pushing vaccine and city resources through health clinics and "strike teams" in the West Englewood, New City, Gage Park, North Lawndale, South Lawndale, Chicago Lawn, Englewood, Roseland, Archer Heights, Washington Heights, Austin, Montclare, South Deering, Belmont Cragin and Humboldt Park neighborhoods.
The plan calls for deploying outreach teams and community health workers to go door-to-door and be present in grocery stores, laundromats, and other high-traffic areas to share information and assist with appointment scheduling in those communities.
After receiving her first vaccine shot Monday, Lightfoot said the city must reverse the trend that shows minority residents aren't getting the vaccine before more Black and Hispanic residents die from COVID-19 "when a vaccine is right here, right now, for free, for all."
“I want you to hear it from me: the COVID-19 vaccine is safe. Period,” Lightfoot said. “I’m excited to get it to protect myself and my loved ones from this terrible virus. I know there is some hesitancy out in the community to get it, especially among our Black and Latinx Chicagoans, that’s based on the real history of mistreatment in our country. But as a Black woman I’m stepping up and getting it, and we need everyone to do the same.”
Chicago public health department Commissioner Dr. Alison Arwady said that increasing vaccinations in high-risk communities will help "reduce the risk of spread across all of Chicago."
More information on getting vaccinated in Chicago and Protect Chicago Plus program is available online.
This article originally appeared on the Chicago Patch
