Introduction

According to previous datasets vaccination rates had a positive correlation with decreasing cases in COVID. With the administration of vaccines deaths, hospitalizations, and overall cases had gone through a downward trend. The information that was available on the New York City gave the case numbers and vaccination numbers for each zip code in all five boroughs.

The questions I asked were, what was the vaccination rate for residents of each zip code? Was heard immunity achieved? And do vaccination rates correlate with other factors like income? Which neighborhood does the city need to provide more vaccine and resources too?

I believe these question would help me see a socio-economic trend alongside health.

Inspiration

This chart was my inspiration to look deeper into vaccination rates of each neighborhood. My previous research gave general view of vaccination rate across New York City as a whole, but I wasn’t able to take an in depth look into each zip code to see if vaccination rates were similar in the specific residential zip codes of the city. The information presented in the chart showed me that a majority of the neighborhoods in Manhattan, which happens to be the richest and most funded borough in NYC, had extremely high vaccination rates. Some neighborhoods achieved herd immunity, while others were very close. I wondered how close the other boroughs were to Manhattan in terms of vaccination rates.

Materials

Excel: First, I extracted the data that on the NYC open data base from Github. Once the CSV was downloaded, I used excel to edit the dataset. I isolated the number of cases, hospitalizations, and deaths by borough and then I incorporated cumulative vaccine data to get a raw picture of vaccine effects on the borough population. In order to get an even more in depth look, I further isolated the different zip codes, representing each neighborhoods within the boroughs, to see if there was a discrepancy between specific locations within New York City. I also pull up data showing the median incomes of NYC neighborhoods, in order to compare them against the vaccination data in each zip code.

Carto: Is a software tool that allows for web mapping. This basically means it is used for geographical data visualization and analysis. Users are able to use Carto to create a data map from scratch. It is used by businesses to assess where they need to market more, or where their product isn’t reaching as many consumers. I used carto to map the locations where vaccinations rate were high and low.

Methods

Step 1: Finding the Data

After a simple google search for NYC vaccination data I was led to NYC’s open data base. This data already contained visuals of many covid related events. Fortunately, all the visuals provided by NYC had a link back to the original Github raw data which were receiving daily updates. Using Github I downloaded the data to further refine it using Excel.

Step 2: Uploading the data onto Carto and Performing an Automated Geo-Analysis

The analysis has to be performed in order for Carto to create a web map automatically. Carto automatically prompts its users to sort the data set. In this case the dataset was sorted through using Postal Codes(Zip Codes). And to be more accurate it had me manually enter the country name for the geo codes. After running the analysis Carto was able to pin point my data to specific locations in NYC.

Step 3: Styling the map indicators and adding legend.

The indicators were styled based on value of the rate of vaccination. The darker the circle the higher the vaccination rate and the lighter the circle the lower the vaccination. The visuals are shown on a darker map in order for the contrast to pop more.

Step 4: Comparing my Map with Median Income map.

According to my map most zip codes south of Harlem over 70%, which means they have achieved herd immunity from COVID. Those are also the areas where median household income is in the six figure range. Also areas like Brooklyn Heights, Dumbo, Williamsburg, Park Slope, and Bay Ridge, all neighborhoods with median income over $70 Thousand dollars, also have high vaccinations compared to Flatbush, Crown Heights, East NY, Bushwick, and Brownsville (neighborhoods below $45 thousand median income) which have some of the lowest vaccination rates in the city. These same trends show up in the other three boroughs. What this shows me especially when comparing to the median income map is that wealthy commercial and residential areas are receiving more vaccines than impoverished areas. This could indicate a lack of resources like manpower, clinics, and pharmacies alongside not being given vaccination priority. While city numbers for vaccinations look great, when inspected further it is very clear that there is a divide in vaccination efforts between rich and poor neighborhoods.

Reflection

I would like to further explore more features of Carto specifically the heat-map feature to see hot and cold zones for vaccines and cases. I would also like to do further research on the number of clinics and pharmacies available in less wealthy neighborhood versus wealthy neighborhoods. For my final project I’d like to do an in depth search into why some neighborhoods are not being as thoroughly vaccinated as others.

Link to Carto

https://mhosen.carto.com/builder/dba5c27c-5ec0-48a3-bcd2-43feae1b0a6f/embed