NEW ORLEANS — You may have questions about when and how you’ll be able to get one of the COVID vaccines.
Right now, the vaccination program is relying heavily on pharmacies to administer vaccines to people outside of the first responders and hospital fields. But for those in some underserved communities, getting to pharmacies or even having one in the neighborhood is a challenge.
That’s the case in the Lower 9th Ward. Burnell Cotlon’s Lower 9th Ward Market is the only place selling fresh food, hot meals and groceries in the neighborhood, which is considered a food desert.
“This is not a third-world country. We’re 10 minutes from Bourbon Street. We need to have stuff like grocery stores around here,” owner Burnell Cotlon said.
When we met Cotlon at his store on Monday, he shared surveillance video which shows criminals ramming a car through the front his store over the weekend. They made off with cash, among other things.
“I’m more disappointed than I am angry. This is my way of helping my community and to see it like this, it hurts,” Cotlon said.
Cotlon says his phone has been ringing constantly since his store closed this weekend. His market is a resource center where people can wash their clothes and get some fresh food. What he can’t offer is help with healthcare.
Back in 2016, CVS and the city of New Orleans celebrated a rare grand opening in the Lower 9th Ward. A brand-new CVS pharmacy came to life on North Claiborne Avenue.
There wasn’t enough business to support the pharmacy. It closed for good last summer. At a time when we’re told that we’ll have to make appointments at pharmacies to get the COVID vaccine, the Lower 9th Ward has no pharmacy. Then, there’s the issue of transportation.
“There are quite a few people that don’t have transportation here,” Cotlon said.
New Orleans City Councilwoman Cyndi Nguyen says she’s organizing a task force to figure out how to best deliver vaccines to District E, which includes under-served communities like New Orleans East and the Lower 9th Ward.
“You got to get the vaccine to where the people are at. If people don’t have transportation, they’re not going to get the vaccine. If we really want to get the city back open again, we got to be really proactive with meeting people where they’re at,” Councilwoman Nguyen said.
Health officials say COVID is disproportionately affecting the poor and minorities. Now, they’re trying to make sure those same communities get the vaccines they need.
Dr. Jennifer Avegno, director of public health in New Orleans, says the city’s approach to mobile COVID testing may serve as a blueprint. Instead of swabs, vaccines may eventually be offered in neighborhoods.
“It’s a lot more complicated to give a vaccine than to do a swab, but we hope that we can replicate in some form putting mass vaccination in sites where people could walk or it would be much easier for them to get to,” Dr. Avegno said.
All plans will be predicated on the vaccine supply. Currently, states say they need more. On Monday, the Louisiana Department of Public Health issued a statement saying in part:
“At this time, there are very limited amounts of the vaccine being distributed, and priority groups outside of the healthcare sector have also been very limited. We are committed to the equitable distribution and administration of vaccines and are actively working to enroll more pharmacies in our LINKS system, especially those in under-served communities.”
Dr. Avegno says the bigger challenge may be convincing underserved communities to get the vaccine. To fight this pandemic, physical and cultural hurdles will have to be cleared.
