The community, Sykes said, has no pharmacies or supermarkets within walking distance. And many of her neighbors don’t own a car and suffer from serious health problems such as obesity and diabetes.
“If they’re going to roll out a vaccine and they’re going to roll it out to supermarkets and pharmacies, I see a problem,” Sykes said. Will it be free? That is a question. And how are they (residents) going to get there to get it? ‘
Chicago is one of the cities across the country that could face roadblocks to vaccine access due to a lack of major pharmacy and supermarket chains in their poorest black and brown neighborhoods. Public health experts identify these communities as “pharmacy deserts” – areas where a significant number of residents have limited access to retail or independent pharmacies. The problem largely arises in areas with low-income residents who have barriers to transport.
Civil rights leaders and health advocates fear inequality disadvantaged communities could struggle to figure out how to vaccinate everyone, as the federal government says pharmacies will play a key role in vaccine distribution.
“It’s going to be a crazy battle, especially when this vaccine is considered safe and effective,” said Pastor Marshall Elijah Hatch Sr. from the New Mount Pilgrim Missionary Baptist Church on the west side of Chicago. “It is very difficult to imagine there will be some sort of egalitarian division. We will have to fight.”
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced on Nov. 12 that the U.S. government is partnering with major pharmacies and networks representing independent pharmacies and regional chains to expand access to future Covid-19 vaccines. The pharmacy list included CVS, Walgreens, Rite Aid, and major supermarket chains with pharmacies such as Walmart, Kroger, Costco, and Publix.
“Pharmacy vaccines are critical public health partners in increasing access to and convenience of Covid-19 vaccines,” HHS said in a press release. “By working with these partners, the federal government will rapidly expand access to Covid-19 vaccines.”
But relying on pharmacies to expand access to vaccines can be challenging.
‘A national phenomenon’
According to the state of Illinois, there are nearly 500 active pharmacy licenses in Chicago. Only 23% are in Census tracts where the majority of the population is black.
“It’s a national phenomenon,” said Dima Qato, lead author of the Chicago drugstore study and associate professor at the University of Southern California School of Pharmacy.
Nationally, the number of pharmacies – chains and independent drugstores, as well as grocery store pharmacies and big box stores – has fallen to 56,788 in 2019 from 62,098 in 2015, estimates the National Association of Chain Drug Stores, an advocacy group. .
Pharmacies in low-income minority neighborhoods in urban areas across the country are most at risk of closing, Qato said. This is largely due to lower fees that pharmacies pay for Medicare and Medicaid prescriptions compared to private insurance plans, she said. According to data from the Kaiser Family Foundation, non-elderly black people are likely to have more Medicaid compared to white people.
Earlier this year, CVS closed 22 stores, including two in Chicago, sparking protests from local black leaders.
CVS spokesman Mike DeAngelis said in an email to CNN that the closures were a “tough business decision.”
However, DeAngelis said CVS remains committed to delivering pharmacy care to marginalized communities.
“In addition to providing Covid-19 vaccines to long-term care facilities starting this month, we will eventually also provide vaccines in all of our 10,000 pharmacy locations,” said DeAngelis. “Barriers to access to the vaccine will be removed: vaccinations will be free for patients, available at many different pharmacy stores and health care providers, and disadvantaged communities will be an area of focus.”
An urgent call for solutions
Lawmakers, doctors and civil rights leaders insist that equitable access to vaccines in urban neighborhoods requires immediate attention.
“It’s a tough lift because we know the history of racism in this country,” Lee told CNN. “But we know this is a matter of life and death, and we don’t want this pandemic to continue in the current way.”
A task force of black civil rights leaders has been formed in New York to develop a plan to create equal access to vaccines.
In a statement earlier this month, the task force said the country is “ill-prepared and ill-equipped” to deliver the vaccine to the black community.
Jennifer Jones Austin, a task force member and CEO and executive director of Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies in New York, said poor neighborhoods in the Bronx, for example, lack quality health care, and large pharmacy chains are not to be found on every corner, such as in affluent communities. There are also not enough doctors to vaccinate every resident, she added.
The task force is proposing solutions such as mobile clinics going to disadvantaged areas and vaccinating people, Austin said.
“We don’t want a situation where low-income, people of color have to travel miles outside of their own communities to access this vaccine,” Austin said. “We need to figure out how we can bring that access closer to home.”
Vaccine rollout in Chicago
Meanwhile, Chicago residents fear what the rollout of vaccines will look like in the city’s poorest communities.
Sykes said she is confident that many black residents will not get the opportunity due to both mistrust and limited access.
Hatch, the pastor, said he is concerned that the west and south sides will be out of vaccination distribution. The city, he said, must consider residents who have mobility issues and lack the means to go to a healthcare facility.
“It’s more of an expense for the people who can afford it the least,” Hatch said.
Dr. Thomas Huggett, of the Lawndale Christian Health Center, said he treats homeless patients at a men’s shelter on the west side of Chicago and none of them have vehicles.
Huggett said one of his patients had to take two buses to pick up his medicine from a CFS because that’s the pharmacy of choice for his Medicaid plan. There are only three CVS stores on the west side, Huggett said.
Huggett said safety net hospitals, churches and elected officials will have to work together to ensure residents can get the vaccine.
“We need to come up with a plan to ensure that black and brown people in disadvantaged areas can access and not rely solely on pharmacies,” Huggett said. “Investment will be needed to ensure that equality is addressed in high-risk neighborhoods.”
Nicquel Terry Ellis reported and wrote from Atlanta, Nathaniel Meyersohn reported from New York and Omar Jimenez reported from Chicago. Priya Krishnakumar contributed to this report.