NEW YORK — More than 1,500,000 New Yorkers are already vaccinated, but that is still a long way off from the 5 million-person goal Mayor Bill de Blasio has set to hit by June.
“I feel good about being able to turn it around with vaccinations if we have supply,” he said during Tuesday morning’s daily press briefing.
The supply backlog from last week’s winter storm is now solved, with shipments of the COVID-19 vaccine arriving nearly daily.
In both New York City and on Long Island, the demographic data released by the state remains concerning and confirms what so many community organizations worried about: that despite efforts to equally distribute the COVID-19 vaccine, white New Yorkers are getting vaccinated at faster rates than people of color in New York City, indicating distrust and hesitancy is alive and well in the communities who bore the brunt of this pandemic.
Dr. Denise Nunez is a Bronx doctor who works relentlessly to ensure her community is getting the right education on the vaccine.
In her practice, she focuses on pediatric patients, but in her urgent care clinic, she handles primary care for adults.
She has been on the front lines of this pandemic in one of the hardest hit boroughs of New York City.
Nunez is all over her Instagram page — before, during and after her busy days — and says she’s here to continue to educate.
She said there is too much misinformation out there and believes it will take time and repetition to get through to those most reluctant to get vaccinated.
Also fighting hesitancy were members of the local clergy and Bronx City Councilmember Ruben Diaz, Sr., who all received their vaccines before television cameras.
As for infection and hospitalization rates, both the city’s and state’s numbers continue to come down after the December and January’s holiday surge. According to city officials, nearly 10,000 New Yorkers have taken advantage of the Test and Tracing Corps offer to self isolate in hotels in the five boroughs for free after testing positive.
