From March 15, two groups of younger, high-risk California residents – people with disabilities and people with severe underlying conditions – will be able to be vaccinated against the coronavirus, California officials said Friday.
These groups include 4 to 6 million people, said dr. Mark Ghaly, secretary of health and human services in California, said. This is expected to bring California’s population to 17 million to 19 million by about March 15.
The underlying conditions eligible for vaccine on March 15 include cancer, chronic kidney disease in stage four or higher, chronic lung disease, Down syndrome, a weakened immune system due to a solid organ transplant, sickle cell disease, pregnancy, heart disease, severe obesity – defined as a body mass index at or older than 40 – and type 2 diabetes.
People need to show some verification for their condition, but officials are still determining what it will entail exactly.
“I find it great, it’s a suitable group for us to get in line,” said dr. George Rutherford of UCSF said.
Age is a major risk factor for developing serious COVID-19 diseases or deaths, but it is not the only one. According to the CDC, adults of any age with the underlying conditions are at increased risk for serious diseases.
“I want the community with disabilities to know this, we have heard you, and we will do more and better to provide access, even with the scarcity,” Governor Gavin Newsom said Friday as he entered the mass vaccination site. San visited. Francisco’s Moscone Center.
Ghaly said the reason the two new groups are not getting immediate access is because there are still very limited vaccines, and that it will take a while to iron out details, such as how the medical condition verification will work. There is already not enough vaccine for the state to immunize everyone according to the currently eligible guidelines – about 13 million health workers, residents and nursing homes, people aged 65 and older, and workers in education, food and agricultural and emergency services sectors. Some provinces do not even vaccinate all eligible groups due to supply constraints.
“I’m grateful they dedicated themselves to a time frame and if they estimate the number to be that large (4 million to 6 million more), it’s a very good sign,” said Andrew Imparato. committee and is executive director of Disability Rights California.
Imparato, however, questions the decision to wait until March 15.
“If we can postpone the date as the vaccine increases, it is my preference,” he said. “But today’s announcement is a big step forward from where the state was on February 2.”
As of Friday, about 5.5 million doses of vaccine have been administered to Californians, a figure that includes the first and second doses, according to state data. Both vaccinations currently available in the United States, by Pfizer and Moderna, require two shots, three or four weeks apart.
Newsom also said the state would publish the nationwide demographic data for vaccination later on Friday.
“This will show what we have been anticipating for some time: with the first allocation of vaccines going mainly to health workers, it is not really a representation of the demographics in the state,” Newsom said. “We as a state need to do work to do more and do better to reach out to our diverse communities.”
At least four Bay Area provinces have released demographic data on vaccinations in recent weeks – Contra Costa, San Mateo, Alameda and Santa Clara. Local data show that white and Asian residents have so far been vaccinated significantly higher than residents of Black and Latino. Part of that is because the groups that have been vaccinated so far – health care workers, nursing home residents and staff and people aged 65 and older – are excessively white and Asian, local health officials said.
Officials and community advocates are working to make vaccines more accessible to people in regions hardest hit by the virus, which are mostly low-income neighborhoods. San Francisco, for example, recently opened two vaccination clinics for residents in five zip codes in the southeastern part of the city.
Rickey Fairley, a 67-year-old black man who lives in the Bayview-Hunters Point area and works as a security guard at the de Young Museum, said he called his doctor a few months ago to learn more about how to get the vaccine. to get . But he never heard again.
“Nobody knew what to do,” Fairley said, sounding excited.
Then, Friday morning, a day before his 68th birthday, Fairley unexpectedly received an email saying he could be vaccinated for free without insurance, just a few blocks from his home.
He said he “jumped out of bed” and rushed to the Southeastern Health Center, where tents were pitched outside and lines swirled around the block. Fairley was vaccinated shortly afterwards and calls it “a blessing”.
“I feel much better. I’m still going to wear my mask, but I feel a little more comfortable, ‘he said. “I’m just glad I can be vaccinated.”
Chronicle staff writers Nanette Asimov, Meghan Bobrowsky and Michael Williams contributed to this report.
Catherine Ho is a staff writer for the San Francisco Chronicle. Email: [email protected] Twitter: @ Kat_Ho