Holden Condemns Wet Markets
City Councilmember Robert Holden (D-Glendale, Maspeth, Middle Village, Ridgewood, Woodhaven, Woodside) toured a wet market in Ridgewood on Sunday with NYCLASS. He commented on wet markets on Twitter afterwards:
“Today, I saw firsthand the horror of a wet market in Ridgewood. Many thanks to @nyclass and the many animal rights advocates who came out to give the voiceless a voice. No animal should undergo such cruel conditions before being slaughtered. We must do better as a society,” he tweeted.
Adams, Miller Respond to COVID Vaccine Demographic Data Release
Chairs of the Black Latino and Asian Caucus of the New York City Council City Councilmembers Adrienne Adams (D-Jamaica, Richmond Hill, Rochdale Village, South Ozone Park) and I. Daneek Miller (D-Cambria Heights, Hollis, Jamaica, St. Albans, Queens Village, and Springfield Gardens) and the rest of the caucus released a statement on Sunday in response to the COVID Vaccine Racial Demographic Data Release:
“Almost one year and nineteen thousand lives removed from the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the same neglect and lack of equity that proved disproportionately fatal to New Yorkers of color is now apparent at the stage most critical to determining the outcome of this crisis: vaccination. The vast racial disparities reflected in this latest data set demand that both the City and State reconfigure what has thus far been a disjointed local distribution plan so that it prioritizes, foremost, the members of our most vulnerable and hardest-hit communities of color. The State must give greater latitude to the City in utilizing the resources necessary to provide its limited supply of vaccines to those populations, and both must employ safeguards to ensure that the vaccinations administered from their stock are exclusive to residents of New York City as well as monitored in real-time through an online portal with the ability to track demographic data on the recipients. As highly contagious and vaccine resistant strains of coronavirus become increasingly prevalent throughout the country, we cannot afford continual errors in the distribution and administration of existing vaccines. Otherwise, an additionally disproportionate and deadlier toll suffered by our communities of color is guaranteed. “
BP Richards Calls for Community Vaccination Hubs
Queens Borough President Donovan Richards stated the following in response to the release of the city’s database of COVID-19 vaccine recipients broken down by race, which revealed Black and Latino New Yorkers are being vaccinated at much lower rates compared to their overall percentage of the City’s population:
“We understand that overcoming historical mistrust of scientific and medical institutions on the part of communities of color is not an easy goal to achieve, but the deep disparities revealed in the City’s COVID-19 vaccination database are not just unacceptable — they are potentially fatal,” said Richards. “To guarantee an equitable recovery and rebuild from this pandemic for our historically underserved communities, it is imperative that we involve each and every trusted community-based organization in a truly all-hands-on-deck vaccination effort. That includes community vaccination hubs in neighborhoods of color hardest hit by COVID-19, tireless multilingual grassroots outreach campaigns, and so much more.
“Lives are on the line and we must ensure we do everything humanly possible to address these disparities and find solutions. Every Queens resident, from our elected leaders and public health officials to each of us in our capacity as loved ones, friends and neighbors, have a critical role to play in saving lives and building our borough back better than ever.”
