CLEVELAND — New numbers from the Ohio Department of Health show white residents make up more than 75% of the people who have been vaccinated at the Wolstein Center vaccination site in Cleveland.
The data is from March 15, which was a couple of days before the site opened up to the public, through April 5. The numbers show that only 9% of those vaccinated at the Wolstein Center are Black, nearly 5% are Hispanic and nearly 7% Asian.
About half of the city's residents are Black.
When the site was announced, Gov. Mike DeWine said he recommended the Wolstein Center because of its location. More than 25,000 people live within one mile of the site, and 66% of residents live in medically under-served communities.
The numbers from Wolstein more closely mirror county demographics than city.
As of April 9, across Cuyahoga County, 327,760 white residents, 71,367 Black residents, 18,455 Asian residents, 788 residents who identified as multi-racial, 1,050 Native American, 262 as Pacific Islander, and 24,306 who identified as Other have been vaccinated.
About 30 percent of the county's residents are Black.
Yvonka Hall from the Northeast Ohio Black Health Coalition thinks the disparity in numbers is because of access, in particular among people with disabilities.
"If you are on a cane, if you are on a walker, in a wheelchair, if it’s hard for you to get out of the house on a normal day, then guess where you’re not going, you’re not going to this ‘accessible’ location," Hall said.
The state says just over 46% of those vaccinated at the site as of April 5 are in the “target population,” meaning people who live in vulnerable communities and need help getting transportation to a vaccination site.
Those who need finding transportation to a vaccine site are encouraged to call the United Way’s 2-1-1 line to get registered for a vaccine and get connected.
Visit our Vaccinating Ohio page for the latest updates on Ohio's vaccination program, including links to sign up for a vaccine appointment, a map of nearby vaccination sites, a detailed breakdown of the state's current vaccine phase, and continuing local coverage of COVID-19 vaccines in Northeast Ohio.
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