“It looked like ward 3 was being punished for being more computer literate,” said Mary Cheh, a councilor who represents the ward, where homes in neighborhoods near American University or the Potomac River tend to sell for more than $ 2 million. “I received a flood of emails from people who were really upset about it.”
The day after the policy change, Ms. Cheh wrote to her constituents, citing data on vaccines and saying that “our anxiety to get one immediately should not hinder the search for an equitable distribution of vaccines”.
“When I sent that note, people said, ‘Oh, thanks, now I understand,'” said Cheh. Still, she called the city’s new system “a very blunt instrument” and said it would be more fair to base the need on individual risk, not that of an entire neighborhood.
She loves Iris Lee, 70, who lives in one of Washington’s priority neighborhoods – Congress Heights, part of District 8 in the southern part of the district, which is heavily black and has had the most deaths in Covid. She said she had still been waiting more than three hours, but got appointments for her and her 93-year-old mother.
“Being able to call at a designated time for us – I felt good about it,” said Lee. “The people who live in Ward 3 and the people who live in Ward 8 have different social realities. This is not a joke for us. “
Still, Jones, of Bread for the City, said that even with the new system, almost none of the people who came to get injections at his clinic were his regular patients. The clinic started reaching out to its regular clients and, with permission from the city, reserved all its first doses for them and for clients of other social service organizations last week.
“It’s not just about preserving stains for people,” said Jones. “Somehow, we have to persuade them to use these points.”