When Angelina Spicer showed up to Kedren Community Health Center in South Los Angeles to get her COVID-19 vaccine in March, she was shocked to see hundreds of people waiting outside.

In an area where nearly the entire population is Black or Latinx, Spicer said she could count on one hand the number of Black and brown people in that line.

“It broke my heart to see the amount of privilege that existed in front of this particular hospital in Los Angeles,” Spicer said. “I thought to myself, this is really unjust. The people who need [the vaccine] the most are not able to get it because folks from Bel Air are chasing these vaccines in this neighborhood. There's something that needs to be done here.”

Spicer describes herself as an “accidental activist.” Known for her career as a comedian, she began to use her platform to speak out about maternal mental health after her own experience with postpartum depression.

When COVID-19 hit and exacerbated existing inequities for vulnerable communities, Spicer witnessed the injustice play out in her own community and thought about how she could help.

“#SpicersRideToWellness is my answer to a systemic problem here in Los Angeles,” she said. “It is essentially an event that I created to provide not only literal bus rides to the vaccines, but also an opportunity for underserved community members to get information on mental health services, wellness, and motherhood.”

When the vaccine rollout began, LA County made headlines for its “vaccine chasers” — people from far-flung neighborhoods who would arrive at vaccination sites in hopes of receiving potential leftover doses.

Many of these people are white, not yet eligible to receive the vaccine, and privileged enough to drive down and take time off work to wait in line at a hospital that is supposed to serve a low-income, predominantly Black and Latinx population.

Read the full article about COVID-19 vaccine equity by Kristine Liao at Global Citizen.