New county-by-county numbers in New Jersey show white residents are receiving COVID-19 vaccines at nearly twice the rate of Black and Latino people. The disparities are the widest in the southern end of the state but remain sizeable in denser, urban counties in the north.
A WNYC/Gothamist analysis of state health data shows the biggest difference in Burlington County, where white people received doses at nearly three times the rate of Black residents. Burlington also ranks highest in the vaccine racial gap between white community members versus all other peoples of color. The chasm between whites and Latinos is largest in Cape May County, where white residents accounted for 2.5 times the doses as Latinos. Statewide, white residents received doses at 2.17 times the rate of Black people and 1.75 times that of Latinos.
Governor Phil Murphy has focused on pushing vaccine allocations to providers who can get as many shots as possible into arms, such as the six state-run megasites. New Jersey’s formula to determine how many vaccines providers receive is based on a site’s ability to use up its supply. But such a strategy could put people at risk if those high-volume sites are not located in places where COVID-19 has thrived the most. It also excludes residents who may not have adequate transportation to get there.
"Getting the shots in the right arms versus just shots and arms needed to be a priority," said Claudine Leone, government affairs counsel for the New Jersey Academy of Family Physicians. She said it's wrong to assume everyone who wants the shot will go anywhere to get it.
"They have to start wondering who are the folks that aren't coming in and making the appointments? How do we find them?" she said. "It's identifying at least those who have a primary care physician, and letting their physician find them.” Primary care doctors say they’ve largely been left out of distribution efforts but maintain they are vital to reaching residents who need it most: seniors, the homebound and people of color.
With demand dwindling and Murphy’s goal of inoculating 70% of the eligible population by June 30th fast approaching, he announced a plan last week to ramp up vaccinations by distributing them more locally—to additional churches, medical offices and pop-up clinics.
“This is going to be increasingly localized, community-specific, get into all the crevices and corners of the state,” he said during a briefing in Trenton on Wednesday.
Dubbed “Operation Jersey Summer,” Murphy’s multi-program strategy involves both increasing access in communities of color and trying to incentivize people who may be on the fence. Those programs include giving a free beer to those who get a shot via participating breweries and moving vaccines from the megasites to smaller providers.
The Department of Health didn’t disclose additional details on how many locations would be involved. Spokeswoman Dawn Thomas said 250 vaccines per day per site are reallocated, on average, to “new points of dispensing, pop-up clinics in areas with low uptake of vaccine.” Thomas added that more than 1,900 providers have registered to administer COVID-19 vaccines and about 650 receive direct allocations from the state.
Essex County, where white people have received doses at 2.5 times that of Black residents and 1.8 times that of Latinos, is closing three of its five vaccination centers at the end of the month. County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo Jr. said appointments dramatically dropped from 28,000 two weeks ago to 4,000, mirroring a similar slide in demand witnessed in New York City and nationwide. He said the county would continue to run its mobile clinics and homebound programs.
“In the urban centers, it's still very, very difficult,” DiVincenzo said. “We've had mobile vaccinations that we've had for the last two months. We're going to continue to do that, and we're going to have an all-out effort. And that means going to them.”
In some cities in New Jersey, community activists have launched individual outreach initiatives because they said the state's digital appointment rollout hampered residents without steady internet access or who don't speak English. Others, they say, were frustrated by the process and stopped trying.
New Jersey's vaccine registration site and appointment finder were finally translated into Spanish last week, state officials said over the weekend.
"What the governor and the state need to do now is really recognize the differences on who wants the vaccine and hasn't been able to get it, who's unsure if they are willing to get the vaccine and simply needs more information or assistance in getting the vaccine. And then who are the people who are more deeply entrenched and not willing to get the vaccine," said Montclair State University epidemiologist Stephanie Silvera. "We might need to think more creatively about what's going to move the needle there."
