New York community health centers giving out more COVID-19 vaccines
A vaccination site sign outside Yankee Stadium. Ben Von Klemperer / Shutterstock
More community health centers primarily serving low-income communities will be giving out COVID-19 vaccines in New York, thanks to a funding boost in the latest federal relief package, Gannett Albany reports.
The federal government will provide vaccines to at least 35 organizations that run more than 100 centers in the state, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said last week. Among the newly eligible centers in New York City are Morris Heights Health Center, Care For The Homeless, and East Harlem Council For Human Services.
The influx of vaccines will be given on top of the allotment of doses sent weekly to the state, which amounts to approximately 300,000 doses.
Community health centers administering COVID-19 vaccines also largely serve low-income people and people of color, who have received disproportionately fewer vaccines so far. Nearly 90% of patients at these centers are low-income, and about 70% are people of color. Overall, about one in nine residents in the state rely on them for health care.
The latest vaccination data provided by New York City shows that, of the city residents who have received at least one dose so far, just 13% are Black, despite their comprising about 24% of the city’s population. Latino New Yorkers only made up 17% of adults who have received doses so far, though 29% of the city’s residents are Latino.