Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s office on Friday reported “major improvements” in getting the COVID-19 vaccine into the arms of those in the city’s most vulnerable communities.
The mayor’s office said about 50% of first doses have been given to Black and Latino residents in the most recent week.
Early on, when the focus was on health care workers and staff and residents at long-term care facilities, about 18% of vaccinations were going to Black or Latino people, according to the mayor’s office.
“Over the past month, we have doubled down on our efforts to not only drive vaccines into communities that need them most but ensure that our vaccination rates match the demographics of our city,” Lightfoot said in a statement.
“The significant progress we have made is undoubtedly thanks to our equity-based vaccine strategy — which includes a number of initiatives, individuals, organizations and community engagement tactics. Though we still have a long way to go before we can fully achieve equity, this progress serves as an important reminder that the surest path to truly recovering and healing from this terrible pandemic is one that is built with equity at its foundation.”
Almost 2,000 people got COVID-19 shots at a Belmont Cragin high school last weekend and the city hopes it provides a template for vaccinating more residents in the city’s most vulnerable communities.
Oak Street Health organized and ran the mass vaccination Saturday and Sunday aided by community groups who reached out to residents in a highly targeted campaign, said Dr. Ali Khan, Oak Street’s executive medical director.
“We feel pretty proud we are really serving people who live locally,” said Khan, who described an active telephone and door-knocking campaign by community groups. “We’re not just going to rely on a website.”
The Latino-majority Belmont Cragin community is one of the city’s hardest-hit by the pandemic for cases and deaths and is one of 15 singled out by Mayor Lori Lightfoot to concentrate vaccination efforts.
