meIn April, Dr. Clarence Kelley Sr, 64, a pastor on the West Side of Chicago, hired Covid-19. The illness almost took his life, forcing him to stay in the hospital for almost two weeks and on a breathing machine.
“I was afraid I would never see my wife again… it was devastating for me. I wouldn’t wish that on anyone, ”Kelley told the Guardian.
Now, on the other side of this near-death experience, Kelley wants the Covid-19 vaccine. And as an older individual with several serious health problems, including a previous stroke and congestive heart failure, Kelley must be a perfect candidate. But he was unable to get vaccinated.
Like other non-white Chicago citizens, Kelley has been struggling to get the vaccine, despite reported efforts by Chicago to give it equally. Initial vaccine distribution statistics show worrying trends about which communities and demographic data are being vaccinated. As of January 30, only 19% of vaccinated Chicagoans are black and only 19% are Latinos v almost 50% are white.
The need is extreme: although blacks make up only 30% of the Chicago population, blacks in Chicago represent 60% of all Covid-19 cases. And the lack of hospitals, the prominence of food deserts and other inequalities have made Covid-19 an even more lethal health crisis for these communities. But even during Phase 1A of Chicago, when only health professionals and residents and employees of long-term care facilities were eligible for vaccination, most vaccinees were from wealthier areas, such as downtown and the North Side.
Kimberly Smith, a patient care technician at Northwestern Memorial Hospital and union head for Service Employees International Union Healthcare Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Kansas (SEIU), did not receive her vaccine despite working in close proximity to Covid patients. Although she was told she would be vaccinated in Northwestern as soon as she accepted, she was later sent to distant hospitals in Lake Forest and McHenry County. Smith was set to receive the vaccine at Loretto Hospital on Chicago’s West Side on Friday, thanks to arrangements made by SEIU.
“[It’s] the fact that my union is defending me [to get the vaccine] and I have to get to another hospital that is a safety net [when] I work at Northwestern Medical Hospital … [they] just tell me to go anywhere and not really care, ”said Smith, a resident of Englewood.
City officials have publicly pledged to channel the vaccine to the most vulnerable areas of Chicago. Last week, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, in coordination with the Chicago Department of Public Health (CDPH), announced “Protect Chicago Plus”, a plan that aims to ensure that “the vaccine reaches the most affected individuals and communities for the Covid-19 pandemic, ”as stated on the official information website Covid-19 in the city of Chicago.
Dr. Allison Arwady, the CDPH Commissioner, told the Guardian: “It is not just that equity is in our plan. Heritage is really our plan. And it is a space that we are probably most concerned with as a health department. “
In response to concerns about the concentration of vaccines in more privileged areas, Arwady told the Guardian that most marginalized Chicagoans are being enrolled for vaccinations under “Protect Chicago Plus” as Phase 1B continues (launched last Monday). As for Phase 1A, she said, most of the doctors and nurses who signed up for the first vaccination points were mostly white (as the survey results show that minority health officials are more hesitant).
Arwady also mentioned the serious lack of vaccines available to vaccinate all who qualify – a mere 5,700 doses a day. However, doubts and concerns remain, given the number of access problems surrounding the distribution of vaccines.
On the one hand, the Chicago plan to use pharmacies to distribute vaccines (vaccines are being supplied directly to pharmacies through the federal government) may mean that some Chicago citizens struggle with access, as Chicago contains several “pharmacy deserts. “: a term coined to describe a community with limited access to a pharmacy. Most “pharmaceutical deserts” are concentrated on the west and south sides of Chicago, correlating with the same communities most affected by Covid-19.
Dima Qato, an associate professor at the School of Pharmacy at the University of Southern California and a senior member of the Schaeffer Center for Health Policy and Economics, has extensively studied access to pharmacies in Chicago. “Access is important and if we know that the pharmacy is important for adherence to medication, it will certainly make a difference for vaccines,” he said.
Even when pharmacies are available in vulnerable communities, they are more likely to be independent stores than retail chains and less likely to offer vaccination services, according to Qato. Arwady confirmed that many independent pharmacies do not wish to be vaccinators.
Technology barriers have also emerged as a potential problem with vaccine enrollment. So far, technological challenges have been a problem for many seniors trying to secure their vaccine. Some fear that for those in vulnerable communities, technology difficulties may be exacerbated, as many communities in the west and south do not have access to the Internet – almost 50% of all residents in some neighborhoods.
“When do you open [vaccine sign up] for a larger workforce, many people may not have smartphones or computers, and even if you do, the queue is very difficult to get in, ”said Dr. Marina Del Rios, an emergency physician at the University of Illinois hospital.
Even without the technology component, some feel that education has been limited in vulnerable communities that sometimes hesitate to get the vaccine. Some employers, like Northwestern Hospital, have been negligent when it comes to scheduling educational sessions for employees. Smith and Anne Igoe, vice president of Health Systems at SEIU described to the Guardian how the union took charge of vaccine education sessions, how to bring in medical professionals to speak with workers.
Alfred White, who has worked in food stores during the pandemic, said he has not been vaccinated or received any education or vaccine information from his employers, despite qualifying as an essential front-line worker. White, a South Shore resident, has not received any information from the temporary employment agency he works with or the companies for which he is employed. He works with hundreds of people every day and with food. “I have no idea if I wanted to be vaccinated as soon as possible how to go and do this … I just don’t know how to go and apply.”
“Both [Illinois governor] JB Pritzker and [Lightfoot] tried deployment plans that address the needs of the most vulnerable populations … I don’t think all of our employers have adopted this, ”said Igoe.
Kelley, like many others, has struggled to find information on how to apply for the vaccine, despite calling Covid-19 helplines: “It never took me directly to who you called, how to apply for the program or how to get in. on the list . I never managed to find that out. Maybe I didn’t dig deep enough, but it shouldn’t be that hard. ”Some information from Covid is also not being translated into Spanish, as mentioned by Del Rios, adding a language barrier for some residents.
Arwady and other CDPH officials point to initiatives within “Protect Chicago Plus” that are supposed to work around these basic access problems. Strike teams sent to vulnerable communities to schedule vaccine appointments and educate those with technology problems, hospitals calling elderly patients to schedule Covid-19 vaccinations, and the creation of vaccination distribution points (POD) for residents of the most affected communities are just some of the proposals adopted to increase vaccination among minority demographic groups.
In addition, introducing community minority leaders (such as Del Rios, who was the first person in Chicago to receive the Covid vaccine) aims to demonstrate the vaccine’s safety and effectiveness.
For now, there are persistent questions and concerns about how to ensure that everyone in the city, not just the most privileged, is vaccinated.
“We want to make sure that we are preventing Covid by getting people vaccinated in [high risk] neighborhoods at the same rates as other neighborhoods. Otherwise, we will make the problem worse, ”said Qato.