Brooklyn Surpasses 25% Vaccination Rate, Still Behind Rest Of NYC

BROOKLYN, NY — More than a quarter of Brooklyn adults have received at least their first shot of the coronavirus vaccine, making the borough one of the last to hit the distribution milestone in New York City.

Both Brooklyn and the Bronx inched above a 25 percent vaccination rate late last week. By Tuesday, the percent of adults who had received at least their first shot had grown to 28 percent, according to the city's data.

But even with the milestone, the latest data shows the boroughs are still trailing in their vaccine distribution.

Manhattan — which became the first borough to hit the 25-percent mark earlier this month — led the way with 40 percent of its residents having gotten the first shot as of Tuesday. Staten Island stood at 36 percent and Queens at 33 percent, according to the data.

Brooklyn has had the lowest vaccination rate since the city began releasing geographic data last month, underscoring the struggle the state and city have had to fulfill their goal of reaching neighborhoods hardest-hit by the coronavirus pandemic with vaccines.

The highest vaccination rates continue to be in wealthy Manhattan ZIP codes and other majority-white neighborhoods, including Upper East Side ZIP codes where nearly 60 percent of residents were fully vaccinated as of Tuesday.

Even in Brooklyn, the highest rates, hovering above 40 percent, are found in wealthy neighborhoods like Brooklyn Heights and Park Slope. Some ZIP codes in the borough had just barely passed a 20 percent rate as of Tuesday.

Manhattan has also achieved its high rates despite being the only borough without a mass-vaccination site that serves its residents exclusively.

In Brooklyn, city, state and federal officials have tried to address the disparity by setting up mass vaccination sites for areas hardest hit by the virus.

Citywide, 32 percent of New Yorkers had gotten at least one shot by Tuesday.

Asian and white New Yorkers have gotten vaccinated at the highest rate — 35 and 31 percent, respectively — followed by 19 percent for Latino residents and 17 percent for Black New Yorkers.