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Many of the Bay Area’s hardest-hit neighborhoods have been left out of the new equity-focused vaccine distribution program, frustrating local officials and community clinics who rush to immunize the most vulnerable populations in the area. the region.
California’s list of more than 400 priority postal codes – for which the state will reserve about 40% of vaccine supplies – encompasses several low-income neighborhoods such as Fruitvale in Oakland, North Richmond and the Tenderloin District in San Francisco. But other areas where residents have contracted and died from COVID-19 at high rates are particularly absent, such as East San Jose, East Palo Alto, Hayward, San Rafael and Concord.
In all, only 10 Bay Area zip codes were on the list – and not a single one is in Santa Clara, San Mateo or Marin counties. Contra Costa has only one zip code, while Alameda has three and San Francisco two. Sonoma and Santa Cruz are also totally absent.
“It’s criminal,” said Jeff Smith, Santa Clara County Director. “This means that those in our county most at risk of a pandemic will receive fewer vaccines than those in counties that have done a worse job in the face of poverty and health problems for years.”
California Health and Human Services Secretary Dr Mark Ghaly first announced the new vaccination plan on Wednesday, which is tied to the reopening of the economy, and released the full list of targeted postal codes Thursday evening. The state reserves 40 percent of its available vaccine for these zip codes; as soon as it delivers 2 million shots, the restrictions will be relaxed to allow counties to pass through the reopening system more quickly.
The state based the list on a health equity measure known as the California Healthy Places Index, which ranks census tracts based on income, education levels, access to health care. and other factors. Yet many communities that expected to be included – and where case rates remain high – have been left out.
The Santa Clara County postal code 95122 in East San Jose, for example, has 1,358 cases per 10,000 people – more than double the county’s rate and more than 50% higher than the overall rate of cases in California. Gilroy, which like ZIP 95122 is predominantly Latinx, has a case rate of 1,318 cases per 10,000 people. The state does not consider either of them to be priority postal codes.
Meanwhile, in Contra Costa County, officials reported three zip codes – 94801, 94804 and 94806 – earlier this month for a vaccination partnership with John Muir Health using what they believed to be the same “Healthy Places” criteria than the state, said the former mayor and the community. activist Genoveva Calloway. Yet only the 94801 zip code covering North Richmond was on the state’s list. Hayward of Alameda County and Cherryland and Ashland Unincorporated are also independent.
The majority of priority postal codes are in Southern California.
During a press call on Friday, Ghaly said he had answered “similar questions” from various counties about not including their zip codes. He did not offer them an additional vaccine, but said, “We are working to make sure that all counties that supply the vaccines they receive are targeting the hardest hit zip codes in their county.”
“I was very, very, very surprised,” said Andrea Schwab-Galindo, CEO of Tiburcio Vasquez Health Center. “How does that work? Who’s planning this? I understand that they won’t be able to please everyone, but at least be clear about that.”
In the Bay Area, community clinics and providers have worked to prioritize vulnerable communities with walk-in sites, mobile clinics and door-to-door services. Yet these efforts have been hampered by the scarcity of supplies which the new deployment aims in part to alleviate.
Santa Clara County nearly canceled a walk-in vaccination event in the Alviso neighborhood in San Jose on Friday due to limited vaccine doses, said Reymundo Espinoza, CEO of partner organization Gardner Health Services. The state’s supplemental vaccine insurance would have been a godsend.
“I can’t keep up with the demand. I’ve stretched my staff to the point that I can’t do it anymore, and I keep getting requests, ‘Can you go here, can you go? “to get people vaccinated,” Espinoza said.
Complicating matters is the state’s new contract with insurance giant Blue Shield, which began overseeing vaccine distribution from March 1. In their first public speech on Friday, Blue Shield officials said they plan to integrate all counties into their centralized system by the end of March. After assessing the total federal government supply, Blue Shield will route doses to counties based on their eligible populations by zip code, with enough vaccines reserved to ensure priority zip codes receive a double share.
Mike Callagy, San Mateo County Director, said he had learned from Blue Shield that the partnership would make little difference to the way vaccines are now distributed locally. But without a clear explanation of why places like East Palo Alto and Daly City weren’t on the state’s list, he is wary for weeks to come.
“We have these vulnerable pockets of communities here, and a life is a life,” Callagy said. “We should be given doses to take care of people here, just like the rest of the state.”
San Jose City Councilor Magdalena Carrasco – whose district includes parts of eastern San Jose – said she and other South Bay officials were working to get an explanation from the state. On Friday, she helped open a vaccination site at East San Jose’s Eastridge Mall to better serve the neighboring community.
“It’s like, what the hell, man?” Carrasco said. “Let us make the decisions about where to locate critical workers and get them where they’re needed. Don’t handcuff us, don’t line us up, don’t decide for us. We’ll know better who’s in our backyard.
Editor Leonardo Castañeda contributed reporting.
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