We are writing today in regards to the distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine in Louisiana. We are a membership-based socialist organization with 600+ dues-paying members in Orleans Parish. Our members include patients, health care providers, health system workers, public health practitioners, essential workers, and concerned community members. We have been following the distribution of COVID-19 vaccines and are growing concerned about the equity of vaccine distribution.

We understand that the vaccine distribution is a reflection of existing problems within our healthcare system, which is deeply fragmented, disorganized, unequal, and oftentimes cruel. This is a direct result of a fundamentally profit-driven health system and a public health infrastructure that is almost an afterthought. Furthermore, in our country, the material devastation of communities of color is in part organized through the healthcare system itself. We are witnessing this unfold right now, in real time, through the distribution of the vaccine, and we have borne witness to it in horrifying ways over the last year of the COVID-19 pandemic.

This pandemic has laid bare the vast inequities and outrages that comprise our society: 1 in 555 Black Americans has died of COVID-19, compared to 1 in 825 white Americans. And people of color are more likely to be working as ‘essential workers,’ placing these communities at greater risk of contracting COVID-19.

These statistics, while appalling, are likely not surprising to many. They reflect structural problems that we are all well aware of and that are inherent within the structure and organization of our health care and economic systems. They reflect the racist policy choices that are the foundation of our current healthcare system, including the opposition to a universal health program and the ceaseless devotion to profit. The COVID-19 vaccine distribution provides a unique opportunity to push our public health infrastructure to immediately and materially confront racial health disparities, our society’s unevenly distributed health care resources, and articulate a vision of a better world.

But thus far, we have failed to seize this opportunity. Washington D.C.’s vaccine distribution process has been described as resembling ‘Hunger Games,’ with people competing with one another for access to the vaccine. White New Yorkers have gotten the vaccine at double the rate of people of color in NYC. Across the Southern U.S., COVID-19 vaccination sites are more likely to be found in white neighborhoods. Although the City of New Orleans has acknowledged the importance of vaccine distribution equity, we find that the plan for equitable vaccine distribution is sorely lacking.

Our Demands:

• Instruct NOLA Ready to organize vaccine distribution sites in predominantly Black and brown neighborhoods and to prioritize vaccine distribution to providers that serve a majority non-white clientele. Dedicate resources to going door-to-door and ensuring that every single New Orleanian who is interested in the vaccine has the opportunity to receive it. While we applaud the launch of the Convention Center vaccine distribution, we believe that a citywide, neighborhood-based approach will be effective at reaching more people, while a centralized vaccine distribution process will barely address the inequities which are baked into our healthcare system. The City has outlined a plan to vaccinate workers in both jails and homeless shelters, but not the people who live in those facilities. But close-living quarters places these populations at higher risk of contracting COVID-19. Prioritize vaccinating all people who are currently incarcerated or staying in homeless shelters.

• Release accessible, timely, transparent demographic data to the public about who is getting vaccinated

• Release a clear, actionable, detailed plan addressing vaccine equity and release biweekly reports on progress towards achieving that plan

• We have seen some success in the efforts of “vaccine hunters'' in receiving vaccines before they are eligible, including healthy, young, well-resourced white people who have the opportunities to wait outside pharmacies for the day’s extra doses. Develop a centralized system for distributing extra doses to priority groups rather than anyone who happens to be nearby at the end of the day.

We know the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted poor Black and brown communities at a much higher rate than white communities. Those most affected by this pandemic are once again being sidelined in favor of wealthier and whiter individuals. This is nothing short of state sanctioned violence and vaccine redlining, as Rep. Ayanna Presley said recently. The healthcare system is deeply racist and the long history of stigmatization, marginalization, and poorer outcomes of Black and brown patients means the City and state owes our communities the support they need to ensure all are vaccinated.