Advertisement

SKIP ADVERTISEMENT

New York Today

Trying to Reach Unvaccinated New Yorkers

[Want to get New York Today by email? Here’s the sign-up.]

It’s Thursday.

Weather: Mostly sunny. High in the upper 70s.

Alternate-side parking: In effect until May 31 (Memorial Day).


Image
Tomas Ramos and Melanie Pina of the Bronx Rising Initiative.Credit...James Estrin/The New York Times

Between December and April, the pace of vaccinations in New York City was on the upswing, with new daily records in doses administered set week after week. But the past few weeks have shown the opposite: a downward trend.

Part of that is because of the success of the vaccination campaign. In the city, 59 percent of adults have received one dose, compared with 48 percent nationwide. Pandemic restrictions are largely being lifted in New York as positivity rates and hospitalizations drop.

Still, the slowing pace also reflects dwindling demand, as groups of people across the city choose not to get vaccinated for a variety of reasons, or have trouble getting doses. The city is now stepping its outreach to reach those groups, particularly in predominantly Black and Latino neighborhoods.

[The city is turning to door-to-door outreach to overcome vaccine skepticism.]

Black and Hispanic New Yorkers are getting vaccinated at significantly lower rates than other groups. Citywide, only 33 percent of Black adults have gotten a vaccine dose. For Hispanic adults, the rate is 42 percent. About 51 percent of white adults have received at least one dose, and 73 percent of Asian adults have gotten a dose.

New York City public health officials are urging community groups to start knocking on doors to reach unvaccinated people individually. The city has also hired companies to promote vaccination on street corners in largely in Black and Hispanic neighborhoods.

The racial disparities are partly the result of differing levels of access, with more robust health care and vaccine distribution in some neighborhoods than others. Mayor Bill de Blasio has noted that another thing holding people back is convenience — it’s just not easy enough yet for everyone to get vaccinated.

But skepticism about vaccine safety is a significant factor contributing to hesitancy, interviews showed.

Anthony Lopez, 41, who lives in Jamaica, Queens, where the vaccination rate has hovered around 40 percent, said he did not plan to get vaccinated anytime soon.

“I’ll definitely be waiting until more people take it, and they’ll probably make some changes to it,” he said, “and maybe I’ll be able to make a better decision in a couple of years — not now, though.”

City officials began a campaign last week encouraging doctors, pharmacists and other health care providers in parts of the Bronx and Brooklyn to recommend vaccination to patients. The city has also said it would give up to $9 million to community organizations to promote vaccine awareness. The city has also deployed vaccination buses to neighborhoods.

Some of the outreach involves knocking on doors.

Tomas Ramos, a community organizer with the Bronx Rising Initiative, and two colleagues recently knocked on every door in the Webster Houses, a public-housing project, asking about vaccinations.

Sometimes people said through closed doors that they would not get vaccinated. On the 13th floor, Biency Paulino answered the door, saying her family had not left the apartment for two and a half months because of Covid-19.

Still, she explained, they were unlikely to get vaccinated. It was up to God whether or not she got Covid-19, she said, and whether or not she died.


Scarred but Resilient, New York City Tiptoes Toward Normalcy

U.S. Inquiry Into Cuomo Widens to Examine Virus Tests for ‘Specials’

In New York and More, Public Art Is Taking on Thorny Social Issues

Dr. Aaron Stern, Who Enforced the Movie Ratings Code, Dies at 96

A New York Museum Staple Gets a New Glimmer

Back to Office at Saks Means Mandatory Vaccines, Optional Manicures

Want more news? Check out our full coverage.

The Mini Crossword: Here is today’s puzzle.


Eight Brooklyn men are accused of making $2 million worth of fraudulent unemployment claims to pandemic assistance programs. [NBC New York]

A man bit off a chunk of a finger of a man of Asian descent in Hell’s Kitchen, in what police are investigating as an anti-Asian hate crime. [ABC 7]

Hundreds of millions of dollars are needed to protect wetlands and streams in New York City, according to a new report. [Gothamist]


The Times’s Michael Paulson writes:

The Drama Book Shop, a quirky 104-year-old Manhattan specialty store that has long been a haven for aspiring artists as well as a purveyor of scripts, will reopen next month with a new location, a new look and a star-studded new team of owners.

Those new owners — the “Hamilton” creator Lin-Manuel Miranda, as well as the show’s director, Thomas Kail, lead producer, Jeffrey Seller, and the theater owner James L. Nederlander — said Wednesday that the store will have its long-delayed reopening on June 10.

The opening, at 266 West 39th Street, is a sign of the team’s confidence in Times Square, which has been largely theater-free since March 12, 2020, when the coronavirus pandemic forced Broadway to close. Broadway shows are not planning to resume performances until September, but the new owners say they are ready for business.

[Read more about the plan to reopen the Drama Book Shop.]

The “Hamilton” team bought the Drama Book Shop, most recently located on West 40th Street, in early 2019 after years in which the store had struggled to survive the challenges of Manhattan real estate, e-commerce and even a damaging flood. Mr. Kail had a particular passion for the bookstore, where he had run a small theater company in his early years as a professional; Mr. Miranda joined him there to work on “In the Heights,” a musical that Mr. Kail directed. “In the Heights” has been adapted into a film that is being released on June 11, the day after the bookstore opens.

The new owners had initially hoped to reopen the store in late 2019, and then in early 2020, but the project was delayed, first by the vicissitudes of construction and then by the pandemic. The new shop has been designed by David Korins, the “Hamilton” scenic designer, and includes a cafe.

The store is encouraging visitors to make reservations online; capacity will be limited.

It’s Thursday — act fast.


Image

Dear Diary:

On a recent weekend, my wife worked up the courage to do what she had not been able to bring herself to do for several months: take her beloved pair of well-worn but broken boots to the textile drop-off site at the local farmers’ market.

As we approached the drop-off tent, I realized that my wife was several steps behind me. With a hint of derision, I said to the attendant there that she needed a minute to say goodbye to her old boots.

He responded by walking up to her and pulling out his keys.

“I understand,” he said, pointing to a thin strip of black fabric that was duct-taped to his key ring. “This is all that is left of ‘Patches,’ my favorite coat. ‘Patches’ got me through basic training and much more.”

My wife placed her boots gently into the donation bin.

“Will you take good care of my boots?” she asked.

The attendant assured her that he would.

— Chris Hartmann


New York Today is published weekdays around 6 a.m. Sign up here to get it by email. You can also find it at nytoday.com.

Mihir Zaveri is a general assignment reporter in New York. More about Mihir Zaveri

Advertisement

SKIP ADVERTISEMENT