Rhode Island health officials have put in place new protocols aimed at safeguarding COVID-19 vaccination appointments after 1,400 people of color received false cancellation notices for a clinic last weekend. Access to clinic cancellations has been restricted to certain supervisory and leadership-level staff, and all staff have been retrained, pending a state police probe into […]
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State Police to probe false cancellation notices for COVID-19 vaccinations
Rhode Island Governor Daniel J. McKee has asked the State Police to look into why some 1,400 people of color who had registered for last weekend’s COVID-19 vaccination clinic at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center in Providence were sent false cancellation notices. Several community leaders had raised concerns to The Public’s Radio about whether the cancellation […]
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R.I. residents 16 and older in hard-hit ZIP codes eligible for COVID-19 vaccine
Rhode Island opens vaccine eligibility Tuesday to residents 16 and older in eight hard-hit zip codes around the state. These residents — in zip codes 02904, 02905, 02907, 02908, 02909, 02860, 02861 and 02863 — live in parts of Providence, Cranston, North Providence and all of Pawtucket and Central Falls. They are now eligible to […]
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Rhode Island residents 50 and older will be eligible to sign up for a COVID-19 vaccine on April 5
All Rhode Islanders ages 50 and older will be eligible for a COVID-19 vaccine starting on April 5. Residents ages 40 to 49 are expected to be eligible to sign up for a shot the following week, state officials said at a weekly briefing Thursday. Two new state-run mass vaccination sites are scheduled to open […]
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Providence, Pawtucket expand COVID-19 vaccine eligibility to residents 18 and older
Rhode Islanders ages 18 and older in seven of the state’s hardest-hit zip codes are now eligible to sign up for a COVID-19 vaccine. The City of Providence on Monday announced expanded eligibility in the zip codes 02904, 02905, 02907, 02908, and 02909 in Providence, which include some adjacent neighborhoods in North Providence and Cranston. […]
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Rhode Islanders 60 to 64 years old and those 16 and older with underlying medical conditions now eligible for a COVID-19 vaccine
Rhode Islanders who are 60 to 64 years of age and those 16 and older with specific underlying health conditions will be eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine starting Friday. Rhode Island residents ages 16 to 64 are eligible to be vaccinated if they have medical conditions — such as type 1or type 2 diabetes; lung […]
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A conversation about vaccine equity with Rhode Island’s health director
In Rhode Island, Latinos account for 16% of the population and 30% of coronavirus cases. But just 6% of vaccine doses have gone to Latino residents. Similarly, Black residents have lower rates of vaccination than white residents. Rhode Island’s health director, Dr. Nicole Alexander-Scott, spoke with The Public’s Radio health reporter Lynn Arditi about the […]
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Vaccine Inequities: Hundreds of people from across Rhode Island sign up for COVID-19 shots meant for residents in hard-hit neighborhoods
Inside a storefront health clinic in a Price Rite shopping plaza in Providence, the regulars are mostly immigrants who speak Spanish, Portuguese and Creole. They work cleaning offices, washing cars and fileting fish in grocery stores. And nearly one in four of the patients last month tested positive for the coronavirus, said Dr. Annie De […]
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Rhode Islanders 65 and older can register for COVID-19 vaccinations starting Monday
The new state-run sites will be able to vaccinate “hundreds” of people an hour, state health officials said, and increase the pace of vaccinations.
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Photo gallery: A vaccination drive in a coronavirus hotspot
Central Falls, R.I. is at the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic. The one-square mile city of just under 20,000 people has the highest per capita infection rate in a state that is among America’s hardest-hit.