26 THE QUEENS COURIER • APRIL, 22, 2021 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
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Community leaders call for additional supply of the COVID-19 vaccines in southeast Queens neighborhoods.
VICTORIA SCHNEPS-YUNIS
JOSHUA A. SCHNEPS
BOB BRENNAN
ZACHARY GEWELB
NIRMAL SINGH
JACOB KAYE
ANGELICA ACEVEDO, JENNA BAGCAL, KATRINA MEDOFF,
CARLOTTA MOHAMED, BILL PARRY
CLIFF KASDEN, SAMANTHA SOHMER, ELIZABETH ALONI
DEBORAH CUSICK
CELESTE ALAMIN
MARIA VALENCIA
VICTORIA SCHNEPS-YUNIS
JOSHUA A. SCHNEPS
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File photo courtesy of Assemblyman Khaleel Anderson’s offi ce
Story: Queens community calls for moves to defund
the police following death of Daunte Wright in
Minnesota
Summary: Days after a former Minnesota police
officer fatally shot 20-year-old Daunte Wright
during a traffic stop, Queens community members
voiced their grief for the young Black man with
some calling for action to defund the police.
Reach: 3,041 (as of 04/19/21)
Cures for
inequality
It’s no surprise that a number of candidates running
to replace Bill de Blasio as mayor of New York City have
made health care reform a key campaign issue amid the
COVID-19 pandemic.
Th e health crisis, as de Blasio, Gov. Andrew Cuomo
and others have pointed out, exposed long-festering
inequalities across the city, particularly the lack of quality
health care services available in low-income areas and
communities of color.
Th is disparity led to deadly consequences during the
pandemic — with Black New Yorkers dying of COVID-
19 at twice the rate of white New Yorkers, and Latinx
New Yorkers succumbing to the virus at 1.5 times the
rate of white residents. And if we do nothing to close
that disparity in the wake of this pandemic, then it will
be the most ignominious, shameful of failures by our
leaders.
Over the past week, two mayoral candidates have come
out with their plans to cure some of the harmful inequality
in our midst.
City Comptroller Scott Stringer’s plan seeks to consolidate
the city’s health commissioner and the head of the
NYC Health + Hospitals public health care system into
one offi ce known as the chief health offi cer. It also seeks
to greatly expand available health care services across the
city, and recruit teams of medical staff who will be ready
to address future pandemics.
Meanwhile, civil rights attorney Maya Wiley off ered
a more issue-specifi c plan to address another terrible,
shameful inequality in New York: maternal mortality.
New York City has one of the highest maternal mortality
rates in the country — and again, Black and Latino
mothers disproportionately suff er more post-childbirth
deaths.
Wiley wants to expand prenatal care for expecting
moms and midwife services to help eliminate the
complications of pregnancy and save young mothers’
lives.
Th e costs of these reforms will undoubtedly be substantial,
and some might well ask if the city is fi t to truly
address and resolve our health inequalities. Th e answer,
however, is that the existence of the inequalities themselves
are evidence that the status quo and the free market
have failed New Yorkers — and now the government
must step up.
It will take years, it will cost millions in taxpayer dollars,
but it must be done. Nothing is more important
than your health — and our next mayor, whoever it is,
must ensure that every New Yorker gets to live their best,
healthy life, regardless of their background.
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