They are instead a microcosm of a nationwide health care system imbued with longstanding structural racism. Racial disparities are not unique to COVID vaccines – or to New York. And, while 69 percent of youth ages 5 – 17 are fully vaccinated in Manhattan, vaccination rates for young people lag by more than 20 percentage points in all of the outer boroughs except Queens. The statewide data reveal similar disparities. Although the data demonstrate that both the City and State have made strides toward increasing vaccination across all demographics and narrowing the gap between Black and white vaccination rates, there are still persistent disparities.įor example, only 55 percent of Black New York City residents are fully vaccinated, lagging behind every other racial demographic. The State also reports cases by region while the City does so by zip code and borough. Both break down the data by race, ethnicity, gender, and age. To New York City and New York State’s credit, they have been reporting publicly on vaccination rates by a number of different categories. Issues like access to care, the need for trusted and culturally competent providers, confidentiality, the history and impact of racism in health care, and income inequality are impossible to ignore. The legal debate over vaccine mandates requires a careful look at the magnitude of the risk to the public, the efficacy and safety of the vaccines, and the efficacy and safety of other methods of lowering the risk to the public.īut amid the legal controversy, we must not lose sight of the very real public health policy issues that the pandemic has brought into stark relief. to communicable disease.” The Supreme Court allowed that mandate to go into effect with no religious exemption. Our rationale is straightforward: in the Supreme Court’s words, “The right to practice religion freely does not include liberty to expose the community. Shortly before that, the NYCLU joined a legal brief arguing that New York State’s vaccine mandate for health care workers does not need to include a religious exemption. Last month, the Supreme Court struck down the Biden administration’s vaccine-or-test mandate for large employers while upholding a vaccine mandate for health care workers at facilities that receive Medicaid and Medicare funds.
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