The Biden administration announced Thursday that it will spend $10 billion to get COVID-19 shots to low-income communities where the pandemic has hit the hardest but the pace of vaccination has lagged .

The money is going to come from the American Rescue Plan , the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief program that the Democratic Congress passed and President Joe Biden signed earlier this month. Under the laws directives, the federal government is supposed to pay close attention to traditionally underserved segments of the population.

Theres a good reason for that. Poor people and people of color are dying at disproportionately high rates , probably because many are essential workers, live in crowded housing and have underlying medical conditions. All of those are risk factors for COVID-19.

The data on who is getting shots is a bit sketchy because of gaps in reporting by the states. But the racial pattern is clear and consistent. Among 39 states that the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation analyzed, 19% of whites had gotten vaccinated as of March 15, compared with just 11% of Blacks and 9% of Latinos.

One reason for the disparities is the familiar inequity of American medicine and American society more generally. Especially in the early phases of the vaccine rollout, the people most likely to get inoculated were those who could spend time online making appointments and who had easy access to vaccination sites. Anybody without good internet access, transportation and a flexible work schedule was at a disadvantage.

Some state officials have made addressing these disparities a priority from the get-go, and, since taking over in January, the Biden administration has, too by, for example, setting up mass vaccination clinics at sports stadiums that are in or near low-income communities.