Following reports earlier this week that suburbanites were flocking to the Fort Washington Armory in Manhattan to get vaccinated, a new policy has been put in place requiring everyone who makes an appointment at the site to show proof of residency in the five boroughs.
NewYork-Presbyterian, which operates the site, further specified that 60% of the appointments would be set aside for the residents of Washington Heights, Inwood, Harlem and the South Bronx (although all existing appointments for first and second doses will be honored).
But banning out-of-towners alone won’t ensure that the residents eligible for the vaccine--now including those 65 and older--are getting appointments. NewYork-Presbyterian says it’s working with more than 40 community and faith-based organizations to reach residents in the neighborhoods it’s supposed to be serving.
“We can use a similar approach to what we did with the Census, being on the ground and out on the street with a tablet and doing outreach where people are at,” said Maria Lizardo, executive director of the Washington Heights nonprofit Northern Manhattan Improvement Corporation, adding that more government support is needed to do this type of outreach. She believes the people she works with at NewYork-Presbyterian are “well-intentioned and want to stand up for the community and are receptive to feedback.”
The controversy over who’s first in line in Washington Heights is part of an ongoing discourse about how the city can ensure equitable access to the coronavirus vaccine. Despite Mayor Bill de Blasio and Governor Andrew Cuomo’s insistence that communities hit hardest by the coronavirus should not be left behind, early data showed in December that Black and Latinx New Yorkers were vaccinated at much lower rates than whites. The mayor said updated demographic data would be made available this week but then extended the deadline to Sunday.
Lizardo, who is an ambassador to Cuomo’s Vaccine Equity Task Force, noted there’s still a lot more outreach that needs to be done by “trusted messengers on the ground,” both to assist people who want to get vaccinated and to provide more information to those who are still skeptical.
Other efforts could include proactively calling eligible recipients, doing outreach at food pantries and setting up dedicated vaccination hotlines, Lizardo said. But she added all of that requires extra funds for community groups to hire more people, particularly since many nonprofits have been stretched thin during the pandemic.
For its part, NewYork-Presbyterian has established a special online portal for local senior centers to make vaccine appointments for their members and increased the number of daily spots available through the portal since it opened, said Marcie Gitlin, director of the Center for Adults Living Well at the YM/YWHA of Washington Heights & Inwood. She added that her senior center and others in the area are coordinating transportation for those who need it.
“We’re very grateful that NewYork-Presbyterian has been making special considerations for people from our neighborhood to get the vaccine,” Gitlin said.
On Thursday, NewYork-Presbyterian also appeared to have remedied the language barrier reporters from local news outlet The City observed when visiting the armory earlier in the week. The City reported there was no one available to answer questions from Spanish speakers on Tuesday, despite Washington Heights being a predominantly Spanish-speaking neighborhood. By Thursday afternoon, staff stationed outside the armory could frequently be heard answering questions in Spanish and Spanish-speakers leaving the site said they had no trouble communicating with health care workers inside.
Still, some local elected officials took to Twitter to call out NewYork-Presbyterian for not ensuring equitable access from the start.
“It shouldn’t take our hospitals weeks to prioritize vaccines for local residents in neighborhoods hard-hit like Washington Heights, let alone finally provide the basics in language access,” tweeted Councilmember Carlina Rivera, who chairs the City Council’s Hospitals Committee. “Every system must put in the work to address the stark inequities in COVID-19 care.”
It shouldn’t take our hospitals weeks to prioritize vaccines for local residents in neighborhoods hard-hit like Washington Heights, let alone finally provide the basics in language access.
Every system must put in the work to address the stark inequities in COVID-19 care. https://t.co/jnLk6TJPAg
— Carlina Rivera 利華娜 (@CarlinaRivera) January 28, 2021
People who spoke to Gothamist about getting vaccinated at the armory Thursday all said they lived in Washington Heights or other parts of the city and reported a stress-free experience signing up for an appointment, getting their shot, and making an appointment for the second dose. Their experiences provided a marked contrast to the difficulty and confusion some New Yorkers have faced trying to find an appointment through city-run websites.
But some said they wouldn’t have known about the armory if it weren’t for a referral from their doctor at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell or word of mouth.
“It’s a surprise I’ve been able to get a vaccination for myself,” said Victor Leyn, 70, who lives in Washington Heights. “All my family tried to get an appointment for me, and they failed a couple of weeks in a row.”
Leyn said he was at a nearby appointment with his eye doctor earlier that day when he was told he could get an appointment in person at the armory. He said he was able to get vaccinated on the spot. (A security guard said people are always able to sign up for an appointment on-site but not necessarily for the same day.)
“They should put up fliers or something,” Leyn said. “Information is the key to getting back to normal life.”
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