Boston City Councilor-at-Large and mayoral candidate Michelle Wu continued to advocate for a COVID-19 vaccination site in every zip code throughout Boston, stressing during a Monday interview on Boston Public Radio that officals are “racing up against the clock,” with respect to new virus variants and growing eligibility for vaccines.
Wu filed a city council ordinance in late January that would do just that, after a Boston Globe report found that less that 14 percent of Black Bostonians live in census tracts within a mile of a COVID-19 vaccination site. The percentage for white residents, meanwhile, sits around 46 percent. Her ordinance is still waiting for a vote.
The city councilor blamed city and state leadership for a vaccine rollout she described as "lacking," citing disorganized and scattered support to community health centers, which she called "a treasure."
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“We need to be prepared now, and having conversations at this very moment,” she said, for an incoming coming surge in vaccine demand. She called on city and state officials to apply the same degree of resources that were applied to last year's census, when, as she put it, "everyone counts."
Sentiments from the councilor-at-large were echoed by state leaders at a virtual meeting hosted last Saturday by Sen. Ed Markey, who noted that communities of color "are not receiving the vaccine in proportion to their share of their population."
The state's most recent data, released Feb. 18, indicates that just over five percent of the total administered vaccines have gone to Black residents in Mass, despite accounting for nine percent of the total population. Asian and Lantinx residents amounted to about four percent each, respectively.
Wu also touched on her ongoing campaign for Boston city mayor, adding that she’s expecting “high turnout” in the 2021 mayoral election, with the increasingly crowded field of candidates running virtual grassroots campaigns.
"This is ging to be a very exciting year for the city of Boston," she said.