COVID-19 Vaccination Needed by Poor and Homeless: A City of Chicago Solution
The poor and the homeless need immediate access to the COVID-19 vaccines, including the booster shot!
Note that in a recent study, researchers discovered “stark racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic inequities in COVID-19 vaccination rates across neighborhoods. The study showed that high vaccination neighborhoods had more white residents, fewer people of color, higher incomes, and lower poverty rates. These high vaccination neighborhoods also had lower historical COVID-19 death rates, showing that lifesaving vaccines have been slow to reach the areas that were hardest-hit…” (New study on COVID-19 vaccinations in the largest US cities finds stark inequities -- ScienceDaily).
Chicago sources have been telling us also that in Chicago the poor are not getting vaccinated quickly enough. We know as of November about 70 percent of Chicagoans have been vaccinated. “However, recent statistics reveal vaccination rates in several of Chicago’s low-income, predominantly Black communities on the South and West Sides are lagging behind other areas of the city significantly,” according to a series of interviews in South Austin and Englewood communities both showing very low vaccination rates’ (In Englewood and South Austin, What Do Chicagoans Say About Low Vaccination Rates? — City Bureau).
A program designed to get more people vaccinated, comfortably in their homes can help the poor welcome in City of Chicago professionals who can vaccinate up to 10 persons at an address. Called “Protect Chicago At Home” (https://www.chicago.gov/city/en/sites/covid19-vaccine/home/in-home-vaccination-program.html) the program comes right to the Chicagoans’ door with the vaccine. In-home vaccination is available to all our Chicago households. Anyone age 5 and up is eligible to receive a vaccine. Further, you can choose between the pediatric Pfizer (age 5-11), Pfizer (age 12 and older) and Johnson & Johnson (age 18 and older) vaccines. Chicagoans ready for the booster can also request a booster dose of Pfizer or Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
What’s very exciting also is that there is a bonus: Each Chicagoan who receives their primary vaccine doses through the city’s program is eligible to receive a $100 visa gift card, including children aged 5-11. (Note that the card is mailed later and is not sent for the booster recipients.) For more information, please go to the website at: https://www.chicago.gov/city/en/sites/covid19-vaccine/home/in-home-vaccination-program.html
What about the homeless and their rate of infection during the pandemic? The United Way of the Washington, DC, area tells of the unique and dramatic effect COVID-19 has had on the homeless and people facing inadequate housing. It is understandable that the virus is suddenly a problem for these communities. “But the pandemic has exacerbated national crises that existed long before the coronavirus. Nowhere is this more evident than in the pandemic’s influence on homelessness and affordable housing” (https://unitedwaynca.org/blog/the-impact-of-the-covid-19-pandemic-on-homelessness-in-the-united-states/).
Homeless shelters are to be avoided. Like the plague. This is because COVID-19 is a plague. The rate of infections in close quarters – often with persons experiencing upper respiratory disease and distress to being with – is through the roof now. The last place a person should go to avoid COVID-19 is a shelter. This fact is documented widely in the literature.
In fact, a study just completed in December showed that Chicago homeless persons placed in hotels instead of in shelters – note the great social distancing possible -- showed a much lower risk of COVID-19 infection (https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2021/12/covid-19-much-less-likely-homeless-housed-hotels-study).
There is a clear solution to the high infection rate and the low vaccination rate for the homeless: This Protect At Home program offered by the City of Chicago. A way to help homeless persons to get vaccinated would be to invite them to a family’s vaccination session. Remember that “Up to 10 people can be vaccinated at a time, so Chicagoans can invite family, friends, or neighbors to their home to be vaccinated together” (https://www.chicago.gov/city/en/sites/covid19-vaccine/home/in-home-vaccination-program.html).
Call (312) 746-4835 to make an appointment. Or register by looking up your neighborhood and clicking on the correct link (https://www.chicago.gov/city/en/sites/covid19-vaccine/home/in-home-vaccination-program.html).
This is a great way to get poor and homeless persons – at high risk for COVID-19 infection – to get their vaccination. A Chicago family can simply invite the homeless into their home – where they can get vaccinated and maybe survive this new plague.
This is just one more wonderful benefit of having one of those ever-elusive things called a “home.”