California falls at the bottom of the list in a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that examines the fairness of COVID-19 vaccine distribution.
California ranks among the five worst states – along with Kansas, Maryland, Idaho and New Hampshire – to distribute shots to the communities that saw the worst infection rates during the pandemic.
In the report published on Wednesday, data on vaccine coverage – the number of people who received at least one dose – were used in the first two and a half months of the US vaccination, from December 14, 2020 to March 1, 2021 On this stage, the CDC data revealed that 51,873,700 people across the country received at least one dose. Analysis looked at how many of the vaccinated people lived in communities identified as vulnerable by the CDC’s Social Vulnerability Index, which was calculated using 15 indicators, including area poverty, demographics and households.
A state-level analysis examined data from 49 states and the District of Columbia, and found that Montana and Arizona have done the best job so far in getting the vaccine to racial and ethnic groups excessively affected by the pandemic and people which are economically and socially disadvantaged.
The CDC report looked at data before California began its program to focus vaccine efforts on the most vulnerable efforts. In early March, the state began sending 40% of all doses of vaccinations to residents of 400 zip codes, identified according to California’s Healthy Places Index as the most vulnerable, based on metrics such as household income, education level and access to health care.
At the time of the announcement, the state had implemented 1.6 million vaccines in these zip codes. Last Friday, officials said another two million shots had been fired in these low-income areas.
Ten of the zip codes are in the Bay Area with nine counties, three in Alameda County, one in Contra Costa, two in San Francisco and four in Solano County. Although the Bay Area makes up 20% of the state population, only 2% of the Bay Area residents fall under the relevant zip codes identified by the new share state.
More than a dozen local lawmakers and dozens of groups have signed a letter to the state asking for more vaccines. The letter pointed out that most of the priority zip codes were in Southern California, with 79 in Los Angeles County and 39 in San Bernardino. However, no zip codes in Santa Clara, San Mateo, Marin, Sonoma and Napa are included.
“The formula excludes postal codes in the Bay Area that have infection rates that are almost twice as high as the state’s total rate,” the letter reads. “This is clearly not a fair approach to vaccine distribution and harms the Bay Area. It is a matter of life and death for our community. This plan needs to be restructured and recalibrated immediately.”
Despite the backlash from Bay Area lawmakers, Gavin Newsom told KQED on Friday that he was sticking to the plan.
“We’re committed to the 40% coverage, because that’s the right thing to do,” Newsom said. “It’s not just the right thing to do, you have to look at the burden of disease. It was overwhelming in the bottom quartile. It was overwhelming in color communities, underserved communities. And we have a moral obligation. And I would have the an obligation regarding our economic recovery, to address those who have been disproportionately affected, on which we also rely disproportionately on essential workers in terms of the vaccination protocols. ‘