Bowman, Schumer to Biden: Direct More Vaccines to NY’s Co-op City Area

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New York Rep. Jamaal Bowman and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer on Sunday sent a letter to President Joe Biden requesting that additional vaccines be urgently distributed in Co-op City, Edenwald, and Wakefield---New York areas hard-hit by COVID-19---whose populations are overwhelmingly people of color and where 1 in 4 residents are senior citizens.

As of this week, only 4 percent of Wakefield residents and 7 percent of Co-op City/Edenwald residents have received a vaccine, compared to 13 percent statewide.

Additionally, 22 percent of residents in this area lack internet access, creating further difficulties as residents try to register for vaccines and research how to access them via public transit. Transportation inequity provides an additional barrier to vaccine access; for zip code 10457, it takes approximately two hours to take the two trains and a bus to reach the vaccination site at Yankee Stadium.

“We respectfully request that your office urgently mobilize the necessary resources and work with the relevant New York City authorities to increase the number of vaccines available to residents in Co-op City and the surrounding Northern Bronx region,” Bowman and Schumer wrote in the letter. “Providing increased resources for vaccines in this area would be a key step toward overcoming the structural barriers to vaccine access as we work to ensure the most vulnerable, marginalized residents of New York State get vaccinated.”

Click here to read the full text of the letter.