Mayor Lightfoot Touts Improvements Vaccinating Minority Residents

CHICAGO — Mayor Lori Lightfoot on Friday touted improvements to the city's push to get more COVID-19 vaccines in the arms of minority residents among the hardest hit by the coronavirus crisis.

Early in the city's rollout of vaccines, which focused on health care workers and nursing home staff and residents, about 18 percent of shots were administered to Black and Hispanic residents.

In the last week, about half of all vaccine doses were given to Black and Hispanic Chicagoans, city officials said.

"Over the past month, we have doubled down on our efforts to not only drive vaccines into communities that need them most but ensure that our vaccination rates match the demographics of our city," Lightfoot said in a statement.

“The significant progress we have made is undoubtedly thanks to our equity-based vaccine strategy—which includes a number of initiatives, individuals, organizations and community engagement tactics. Though we still have a long way to go before we can fully achieve equity, this progress serves as an important reminder that the surest path to truly recovering and healing from this terrible pandemic is one that is built with equity at its foundation."

Since vaccinations first arrived in Chicago, Hispanic people were administered about 18 percent of the initial shots. Black residents received 19 percent of first doses, and white people got 41 percent. Nearly 7 percent of first dose shots were given to Asian people, about 12 percent of vaccine recipients were unknown, according to city data. Chicago's population is about 50 percent white, 30 percent Black and 29 percent Hispanic, according to U.S. Census data.

Chicago public health commissioner Dr. Alison Arwady said the vaccine distribution data corresponds with "good progress" lowering case rates in minority communities that have suffered the most.

Lightfoot touted the improvements at a news conference that started with her receiving a second dose of COVID-19 vaccine.

"This is the way that we will get our lives and city back to normal," Lightfoot said. "The vaccine is so important to the health and well-being of our city."