The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed significant issues as to how healthcare is perceived and experienced by disparate communities and individuals. Law and public health experts explore the ethical, medical and social challenges associated with access to COVID-19 vaccines and treatments in the NYC/Long Island areas. // Photo courtesy of The New York Times
Whether it’s directly or indirectly, this past year has changed everyone’s lives, mentally and physically. To date, the United States has surpassed over 500,000 deaths due to the coronavirus. Since his inauguration, President Joe Biden’s agenda has included a number of executive orders designed to flatten the curve, with hopes that by the end of May there will be enough vaccines for all adult citizens. Biden’s aggressive plan for his first 100 days of presidency also includes the recently-passed American Rescue Plan, a $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief plan which aims to invest $20 billion in a national vaccine program and $50 billion for testing. In New York state, only 9.4% of the population is fully vaccinated.
The CDC’s Social Vulnerability Index (SVI) researchers identified census tracts with high levels of both social vulnerability and COVID-19 infection. The CDC SVI ranks each region in various social factors, including unemployment rate, poverty, number of single-parent households, those who rely on public transportation and crowded housing. These factors are grouped into four subject matters: disability, socioeconomic, ethnicity and household arrangement. The elements that contribute to social vulnerability, such as income, education, poverty, race and ethnicity, heavily affect who will suffer the most from the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I think that many people who need to get the vaccine obviously aren’t getting it in time,” said Justin Joseph, a journalism graduate student. “And certain people who aren’t eligible to get it due to the community they live in will be at the end of the list.”
President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris have put forward a seven-point plan to beat COVID-19, according to their BuildBackBetter transition website. The plan calls for establishing a U.S. Public Health Jobs Corps to mobilize at least 100,000 Americans across the country, with their main focus being protecting high-risk communities. Although they are increasing personal protective equipment accessibility nationwide, it will take a long time for all those in urban communities to have access to vaccines.
During Hofstra University’s virtual event titled COVID: A Year in Review, Rebecca Sanin, president and CEO of the Health and Welfare Council of Long Island, shared her thoughts on the challenges people are facing due to limited access to vaccines and healthcare.
“People who were struggling before the pandemic are now in crisis and there’s a whole new crowd of people who never relied on government services in their life and never relied on nonprofit services, who are in desperate need,” she said. “We had to very quickly understand that we were dealing with different populations, exploding needs across the board, different populations have acquired us to really reinvent our strategy as we went along. So I don’t think anyone is completely prepared for a crisis, but as an organization we were prepared to bring the right people to the table to work together, to do the best we could in crisis.”
As Black and Hispanic Americans are more likely to live in multigenerational homes, self-isolation becomes more difficult for family members who have possibly come into contact with the virus. These conditions can lead to increased risk of transmission and community prevalence as well.
“What we really have to look at is that we all are hopeful that there will be an end and [that] vaccines will be eventually distributed across different communities,” said Martine Hackett, associate professor of health professions. “We can’t ignore the communities that don’t have the access that we have. As vaccines will be distributed and eventually people will live without the mask mandate, other neighborhoods will get the access sooner than others. We cannot forget about those who will continue to be affected in the long term due to the lack of access opposed to others.”