Dallas County Changes Vaccine Distribution, Prioritizes Most Vulnerable Neighborhoods

A noticeable chunk of vaccine doses went to wealthy neighborhoods according to an ABC 8 article published on January 18th, In it they say:

“COVID-19 exposed inequality in communities as soon as testing began, and low-income neighborhoods were left with few sites. Now, the rollout of a vaccine has left poorer, minority communities with fewer doses.

‘We are concerned, and the residents are concerned,’ Dallas city councilman Tennell Atkins said. ‘We’ve got to have transparency through the whole setup.’

A new Dallas County breakdown shows where the first 3,071 doses at the Fair Park hub site went.

More than 15 percent went to just three high-income ZIP codes around Preston Hollow, University Park and Far North Dallas. Data shows 164 residents of 75230 were vaccinated, along with 152 residents of 75225 and 145 from 75248.”

Now, Dallas has shifted its distribution plan in hopes of targeting vulnerable neighborhoods according to a Dallas Morning News article from January 19th. In it they say:

“Dallas County’s health department will begin prioritizing residents in predominately Black and Latino neighborhoods for the COVID-19 vaccine at Fair Park after early limited data showed many shots were going to residents in northern communities.

In a divided vote, commissioners shifted the county’s effort to vaccinate anyone who meets the state’s broader criteria — so long as they are registered to get a vaccine with the county and live in one of 11 ZIP codes identified on Tuesday. The county previously was focused on vaccinating residents 75 and older.

The ZIP codes are either completely or partly below Interstate 30 — which for decades has split the county by race and wealth. They were selected because they either rank high on the county’s coronavirus vulnerability index, which keeps track of how likely a resident is to catch COVID, or because of long-standing health inequities identified in a report released by the county and Parkland Health & Hospital system last year.”

It’s good that once the problem was exposed, Dallas leadership acted quickly to solve the problem and come up with a targetive solution.