To vaccinate America, close the digital divide

All over the country people in the over 65-year-old age group are having issues registering to receive the vaccine. As states and municipalities launch rollouts through shiny portals on their websites, it appears that the seemingly mundane issue of basic internet use and access threatens to bring vaccine distribution to a halt in many communities. This goes beyond technical bugs, or even the ‘usability’ of the websites. It’s about access — to the hardware, to the software, to the knowledge of how to interact with technology, to a robust internet connection and to Wi-Fi.

The digital divide doesn’t just affect our ability to schedule vaccine appointments. In a world dominated by COVID-19 precautions, almost everything depends on knowing how to use and having access to the internet — healthcare via telehealth, education via remote instruction, commerce, food delivery, entertainment. Even our social and religious lives are now conducted in cyberspace. This divide is real and it reinforces existing, long lasting and deep, inequities. Ultimately, closing the digital divide is about more than COVID-19 — even more than about health. The pandemic has only underscored the urgency and importance of achieving universal internet access, which now impacts access to healthcare, education and employment, among other domains. In this day and age, access to the internet is a human right.

[Dr. Ranit Mishori is a professor of Family Medicine and interim chief public health officer at Georgetown University and senior medical advisor at Physicians for Human Rights.]