Vaccinating people in ZIP codes experiencing the brunt of the pandemic grew out of an aim to target inequities and to address a phenomenon that began after the demise of Philly Fighting COVID as a mass vaccine provider in the city.
“The idea behind that, which we didn’t do before, was because after PFC was no longer here, we started getting a lot of folks from neighborhoods that were not the hardest-hit neighborhoods coming to Black and brown communities,” Stanford said.
People coming in from other places to secure vaccinations is not new or unique to the city. But Stanford said the whole purpose of the Black Doctors COVID-19 Consortium is to address the lack of access and racial disparities in underserved communities.
“So we built the trust in those communities, and then when it came time to give the vaccine, people wanted to come to us for that, of all ethnicities, and everyone should be able to get it. The problem, though, is that the majority of the deaths have been African American, and the majority of the vaccines administered in Philadelphia have been to white people,” Stanford said. “So, that’s not equity — at all.”
As of Thursday, nearly 56% of people vaccinated in Philadelphia were white and just 20% were Black, according to city data. Meanwhile, more than 44% of the people who have succumbed to the virus in Philadelphia were Black, the data shows.
Dr. Stanford said that she has received some pushback about targeting the vaccines to the communities hardest-hit by the virus, but that she stands by her decision.
“People were upset with me about the ZIP codes, but what’s happening in Philly is not unique to Philadelphia, it’s all over. And a lot of times, the ‘haves’ want to keep having and the ‘have-nots’ can’t get. And I just don’t want to be a part of that narrative in our society. I want to try to empower the ‘have-nots.’ Try to level that playing field that’s never been level, right? And always reaching towards equity,” Stanford said.
While the consortium seems to have found a clinic model, with the help of Temple’s Owls, that addresses its concerns about equity, the city’s future with the Eagles is not as clear.
In a nearly unanimous decision, City Council passed a resolution Thursday calling on Mayor Jim Kenney to use Lincoln Financial Field as a mass vaccination site — something Kenney opposes.