NEW YORK — With COVID-19 vaccine shortages across the tri-state region, Mayor Bill de Blasio said he has been actively communicating with the White House.
While he wouldn't disclose the details of the conversations, de Blasio said he is optimistic.
“What I can say, I came away very confident in the direction they are taking this," he said.
Meanwhile, the city’s latest zip code by zip code breakdown continues to show too many neighborhoods in troublesome territory, with infection rates above 10%. The Bronx, one of the city’s epicenters in the spring, continues to lead in infection rates even today.
“We’ve said it all along. We need help. We’ve been sick here and all hands have to be on deck,” said Bronx Borough President, Ruben Diaz, Jr.
To date, New York City has vaccinated more than 650,000 people. Tuesday, de Blasio said only 7,710 vaccines remain on hand until a little more than 100,000 doses are delivered in the next two days.
A poll conducted by The Association for a Better New York found 57% of New Yorkers will take the vaccine when it’s available to them. However, trust for the vaccine diminished in the boroughs hit hardest by this pandemic and those remaining with the highest infection rates in the Bronx, Queens and Staten Island.
Four times as many Black respondents to the poll found they would likely refuse the vaccine altogether, compared to white New Yorkers. The study also found Black, Latino and Asian Americans are more likely to wait longer to receive their vaccines.
“One in 10 Bronx residents say that they’ll never get the vaccine. These disparities in vaccine adoption is huge,” said CEO of The Association for a Better New York Melva M. Miller.
Miller hopes city and state policy makers will use the data collected to create more targeted strategies when educating the public as misinformation persists
You can read the full poll here.
Meanwhile, city health officials have begun recommending that wearing two masks are better than one to protect yourselves from the coronavirus.
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This will protect you just a little bit more against new variants of the coronavirus, which UK researchers are finding more evidence is more infectious than the original strains, according to Senior Public Health Adviser Dr. Jay Varma.
This article was written by Narmeen Choudhury for WPIX.