NEW YORK — New York City’s vaccination effort has reached communities of color at lower rates than the rest of the Big Apple, according to stats revealed Sunday.
Among New Yorkers who have gotten jabbed, 11% were Black; 15% were Latino, 48% were white and 11% were Asian — a “profound disparity,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said.
“We’re seeing the Black and Latino communities getting literally a percentage, which is half of what it should be,” the mayor said, noting Black New Yorkers comprise about 24% of the population and Latinos, 29%. (The city population is about 43% white and 14% Asian, according to the U.S. Census.)
The vaccine recipient’s race was not known in 40% of cases, the Health Department data page noted.
De Blasio blamed the disparity on “a profound problem of distrust and hesitancy, particularly in communities of color.”
He also described “a problem of privilege” in which some New Yorkers get better health care access in general than others.
About 800,000 vaccine doses had been administered in the city as of Sunday, according to the Health Department.
