EHTP Joins Community Leaders' Call to Ramp Up Vaccinations in East Harlem

East Harlem Tutorial Program has joined a coalition of local leaders and organizations to demand increased access to COVID-19 vaccines within East Harlem. In a letter sent to New York health department officials, the coalition called for a mass-vaccination facility to be opened in the neighborhood within two weeks, and that health officials engage and coordinate with hyperlocal coalitions that are already vaccinating and educating on the ground.

The effort, involving Assemblymember Robert J. Rodriguez, Congressman Adriano Espaillat, Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer, Senator Brian A. Benjamin, Senator Jose M. Serrano, Councilmember Diana Ayala, and East Harlem COAD (Community Organizations Active in Disaster), included a recent press conference held outside of Boriken Neighborhood Health Center.

At the event, David Nocenti, executive director of Union Settlement, said his nonprofit had witnessed the disparities firsthand after helping staff four city-run pop-up sites. "I can't get my own employees vaccinated," he said.

In East Harlem, zip codes 10029 and 10035 have been disproportionately affected by the virus, experiencing higher rates of COVID-19 infection and death than many parts of the city and state. According to the NYC Department of Health, in just one of East Harlem’s zip codes, 10029, one out of every 14 residents was diagnosed with COVID-19 and one of every 285 died of COVID-19.

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