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Georgia Washington has lived in Southern Heights, a predominantly Black neighborhood in the northern part of Baton Rouge, La., since 1973. After falling ill with COVID-19 last year, Washington was eager to get vaccinated, which is in line with federal health recommendations. But Washington again had difficulty finding a local provider, this time to get a vaccine.
Georgia Washington, 79, can t drive. Whenever she needs to go somewhere, she asks her daughter or her friends to pick her up.
She has lived in the northern part of Baton Rouge, a predominantly Black area of Louisiana s capital, since 1973. There aren t many resources there, including medical facilities. So when Washington fell ill with COVID-19 last March, she had to get a ride 20 minutes south to get medical attention.
An NPR analysis of COVID-19 vaccination sites in major cities across the Southern U.S. reveals a racial disparity, with most sites located in whiter neighborhoods.
KUT
Bastrop County has been designated a vaccination hub, so it must figure out how to hold mass vaccination events with the few resources it has.
Bastrop County is one of the smaller counties in Texas to have been designated a COVID-19 vaccine “hub” by the state. That means the county has to figure out how to get vaccines administered on a wide scale.
But the county has far fewer resources than many of the state s other vaccination hubs, which are in big cities like Austin and San Antonio. As a result, nonprofits such as Bastrop County Cares have started pitching in.