DO VACCINE MANDATES DISCRIMINATE AGAINST BLACK AMERICANS?

Given lower vaccination rates, activists say the new COVID rules could turn some Black people into ‘second-class citizens’

-  Khaleda Rahman

As onh a bral broe ou beeen the hostess of an Italian restaurant in New York City and Black women from Texas over the requirement that they show proof of vaccination.

It later emerged that the three women had provided documentation of COVID-19 vaccinations, but the altercation had escalated after two men, both Black, turned up to join them at Carmine’s and didn’t have proof. The restaurant’s hostess suggested the vaccine cards the women provided were fake, spoke condescendingly and used a racial slur, Justin Moore, an attorney for the women, told The New York Times. The restaurant’s owner denied that racism played a role, telling Newsweek the hostess is Asian American, other employees who were involved are also people of color and that “none of our hosts ever uttered such a slur.”

But the incident, prompted by the city’s enforcement of rules that require people to show proof of having received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine before dining indoors, underscores another issue at play: the racial vaccination gap in the U.S.

Although the gap is narrowing, Black people are less likely to be vaccinated against COVID-19 than other Americans, even as the pandemic has taken a disproportionate toll on them. Vaccination data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that only around 32 percent of Black Americans are fully vaccinated, compared with 39 percent of white people.