Thread by @asymmetricinfo

I understand why cities and states are desperate to get BIPOC vaccinated--on average, they have more exposure AND more comorbidities, and vaccination rates lag.

https://twitter.com/Yascha_Mounk/status/1353754487819808768

In DC, people in affluent and whiter wards are getting almost all the appointments. Mom lives in Ward 5, one of the Wards that is struggling, and when I took her to get her shot at a nearby Safeway, everyone there was a white woman who didn't live near that safeway. Except us.

Moreover, it was clear from the way that they spoke to us that they assumed we, too, had just surfed in from Ward 1, rather than taking the appointment closest to Mom.

Though it does explain how we got an appointment relatively easily.

DC is mulling reserving some appointments for the underserved wards (may already have done so, for all I know), and I don't blame them.

I'm thrilled Mom got her shot, but most of the older residents in those wards are more likely than her to be in multi-generational housing with frontline workers, and not be able to afford grocery delivery. It is urgent to get them vaccines.

I'd like to see us do it with something less kludgy, like sending signup workers door-to-door in underserved wards--but I get why governments are resorting to bad, and in the case of Oregon, unconstitutional, ad-hoc proxies.

It's nice if you have two UMC kids who are working remotely and can drop everything to get you an appointment the moment new slots open up, but the other people actually need the vaccine more, on average, and we need to do a better job of getting them access.