Would Statehood Have Saved D.C. From a Vaccine Fiasco?
On a brisk morning in southeast Washington, D.C.’s Congress Heights neighborhood, a handful of residents lined up, bundled and masked, to be let into St. Elizabeth’s East Entertainment and Sports Arena. The space was recently converted into a high-capacity vaccination clinic, and while there was a subdued sense of anticipation in the air, the scene wasn’t exactly a tense one. It felt more like the line for advance tickets to a movie than it did a group of people waiting to receive a potentially life-saving vaccine.
Bontivia Ben lives 20 minutes away from the St. Elizabeth vaccination site and said she heard about the opportunity to get vaccinated in Congress Heights through her employer. She was not impressed by the rollout in the nation’s capital.
“It’s been slow coming out,” Ben told The Daily Beast after getting the vaccine.