Vaccine Rates Lowest In Rockland Where Coronavirus Hit Hardest

ROCKLAND COUNTY, NY — As a coronavirus vaccination clinic got underway Thursday in Spring Valley, local leaders highlighted inequities revealed in the first 12 weeks of the vaccine rollout.

While 20.2 percent of Rockland residents have received at least one dose of the vaccine as of Thursday morning, according to state data, the rate at which county residents are being vaccinated has varied widely, officials revealed.

"This should be called shocking," said County Executive Ed Day, displaying a graph at a news conference in front of the Martin Luther King Center. "This chart shows a clear inequality that is playing out in the vaccine process."

Spring Valley, Monsey, Haverstraw, West Haverstraw and Garnerville, which were among the Rockland communities hit hardest by the coronavirus, have had the lowest percentage of the population to have received their first dose of vaccine.

Shown here are the breakdowns by zipcode of the percentage of population with a first dose and with a confirmed case.

Spring Valley was by far the hardest hit by the worst metric: Out of the 899 Rocklanders who have died of COVID-19 so far in the pandemic, Spring Valley, with 155, was the only community to lose more than 100 people.

On Thursday, Commissioner of Health Dr. Patricia Schnabel Ruppert, County Legislator Toney Earl, MLK Center Executive Director Nathan Mungin and Spring Valley NAACP President Willie Trotman joined Day outside the Martin Luther King Multi-Purpose Center to talk about vaccination equity.

Day blamed lack of access to the internet and the state's complicated vaccine appointment sign-up process. "While I will not quarrel with the intent of these guidelines, which were intended to provide equity, what resulted was confusion and anger," he said.

State health officials have expanded eligibility and loosened restrictions on who can be vaccinated where.

• Starting Wednesday, pharmacies may begin vaccinating teachers and people over the age of 60.
• Starting March 17, other providers will be able to vaccinate any eligible New Yorker.

The rule change releases local health departments and hospitals from their initial responsibilities which limited hospitals to vaccinating health care workers, local health departments to vaccinating essential workers and people with underlying health conditions, and pharmacies to giving shots to New Yorkers 65 years of age and older.

Now the Rockland Department of Health will be able to use its vaccine allotments on any eligible person, and will start correcting the clear imbalance of vaccine distribution, Day said.

Dr. Patricia Ruppert, the county commissioner of health, said going forward "we will be much more effective at getting shots into arms of people who are most at risk."

The department has already been working with police and fire departments as well as other groups of essential workers, she said, and officials are pleased that one in five residents have received at least one dose.

"We are doing extremely well," she said.

Now Rockland health officials plan to target communities where vaccination rates are lowest, to bring doses to the communities that need them the most.

Trotman said the NAACP was glad the local health department chose to come to the MLK Center, particularly on behalf of local senior citizens with less ability to schedule appointments or get to them.

The pop-up clinic was set up to vaccinate community residents Thursday and Friday. To check if an appointment is available call 845-425-8910.

While this is the first time the county health department has held a clinic at the MLK Center, two previous ones were held by New York state's Vaccine Equity Task Force. SEE: MLK Center To Hold 2nd Pop-Up Vaccine Clinic In Spring Valley.