Many of the Bay Area’s hardest hit have been left out of the state’s new share focus distribution system, which has frustrated local officials and community clinics to vaccinate the region’s most vulnerable population.
California’s list of more than 400 priority zip codes – for which the state will book about 40% of the vaccine supply – includes low-income neighborhoods such as the Fruitvale, Northern Richmond and San Francisco’s Tenderloin district in Oakland. But especially other areas where residents contracted and died at COVID-19 at a high rate are particularly absent, such as East San Jose, East Palo Alto, Hayward, San Rafael and Concord.
In total, only 10 Bay Area zip codes made the list – and none are located in the provinces of Santa Clara, San Mateo or Marin. Contra Costa listed just one zip code, while Alameda has three and San Francisco has two. Sonoma and Santa Cruz are also completely absent.
“It’s criminal,” said Santa Clara County executive Jeff Smith. “This means that people in our country will have the greatest risk of the pandemic receiving fewer vaccines than people in provinces who have been doing worse for years in dealing with poverty and health risk issues.”
The Minister of Health and Human Services in California, dr. Mark Ghaly, announced the new vaccine plan, related to the reopening of the economy, on Wednesday and late Thursday announced the full list of targeted zip codes. The state sets aside 40 percent of its available vaccine for those zip codes; once it delivered 2 million shots, restrictions would relax to allow provinces to move faster through the reopening system.
The state based the list on a measure of health equity, known as the California Healthy Places Index, which ranks census treaties based on income, education levels, access to health care, and other factors. Yet many communities that are expected to be admitted – and where cases remain high – have been left out.
Santa Clara County’s 95122 zip code in East San Jose, for example, has 1,358 cases per 10,000 residents – more than double the country’s rate and more than 50 percent higher than the overall rate in California. Gilroy, which like the 95122 ZIP majority is Latinx, has a case of 1,318 cases per 10,000 people. The state does not consider one of the most important postal codes.
Meanwhile, officials earlier this month tagged three zip codes – 94801, 94804 and 94806 – in Contra Costa County for a vaccine partnership with John Muir Health using the same criteria as a healthy place as the state, the former mayor and community said . activist Genoveva Calloway. Yet only the 94801 zip code containing North Richmond appeared in the state’s list. Alameda County’s Hayward and unincorporated Cherryland and Ashland are on their own as well.
Most of the priority zip codes are in Southern California.
Ghaly said in a press release on Friday that he had asked ‘similar questions’ from different provinces about the postal codes not being included. He did not offer them an additional vaccine, but said: “We are working to ensure that all provinces that receive the vaccines target the postcodes that are hardest hit in their country.”
“I was very, very, very surprised,” said Andrea Schwab-Galindo, CEO of the Tiburcio Vasquez Health Center. “How does it work? Who is planning for this? I realize that they will not be able to please everyone, but at least it should be clear. ”
Around the Bay, community clinics and providers worked to prioritize vulnerable communities with site, mobile clinics and door-to-door outreach. However, these efforts are hampered by small supplies that are intended in part to facilitate the new implementation.
On Friday, Santa Clara County had to cancel a vaccination in the Alviso area of San Jose due to limited vaccine doses, said Reymundo Espinoza, CEO of partner organization Gardner Health Services. The insurance of extra vaccines from the state would have been a blessing.
“I can not keep up with the question. I have made my staff so stretched that I can no longer do it, and I still get requests, ‘Can you go here, can you go there?’ to get people vaccinated, ”Espinoza said.
Complicating matters is the state’s new contract with insurance giant Blue Shield, which oversees the distribution of vaccines from March 1. In their first public speech on Friday, Blue Shield officials said they plan to bring all provinces into their centralized system by the end of March. After assessing the total supply of the federal government, Blue Shield will deliver doses to provinces based on their eligible population according to zip code funnel, with enough vaccine to ensure that the priority zip codes get a double share.
Mike Callagy, manager of San Mateo County, said he was informed by Blue Shield that the partnership would make little difference to the way vaccines are now distributed locally. But without a clear explanation as to why places like East Palo Alto and Daly City did not make the state’s list, he is wary of the coming weeks.
“We have the vulnerable pockets of communities here, and a life is a life,” Callagy said. “We need to get doses to look after people here, just like the rest of the state.”
Magdalena Carrasco, a city councilor from San Jose – whose district includes parts of East San Jose – said she and other officials in South Bay are working to get an explanation from the state. On Friday, she helped open a vaccination center at Eastridge Mall in East San Jose to better serve the nearby community.
“It’s like what it’s, man?” Carrasco said. ‘Allow us to make the decisions about where the essential workers are, and send them where necessary. Do not bind us, do not make us dove-hole, and do not decide for us. We’re going to know better who’s in our backyard. ”
Staff Writer Leonardo Castañeda reported.