California public health officials announced the state’s intent to expand the pool of residents eligible for the coronavirus vaccine next month to include all adults with health conditions that have the highest risk of coronavirus-related death.
Beginning March 15, health care providers and other vaccine administrators across the state will be able to vaccinate residents between the ages of 16 and 64 that have at least one “severe health condition.”
Those conditions, according to state Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly, include cancer, stage four or higher kidney disease, pulmonary diseases necessitating oxygen, Down syndrome, a weakened immune system due to an organ transplant, pregnancy, sickle cell disease, obesity, Type 2 diabetes and heart conditions like coronary artery disease and cardiomyopathies.
According to Ghaly, the updated vaccine eligibility will add 4-6 million people to the roughly 13 million that are currently vaccine eligible in California.
That would represent roughly half of the state’s population according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau.
“We are giving the next many weeks to work with stakeholders, providers and other groups so that we can ensure that when the full number of individuals in these categories … do in fact become eligible, we have built the capacity and the services to ensure that individuals can conveniently, and in appropriate settings, receive vaccines,” Ghaly said Friday during a briefing on the new vaccine eligibility guidance.
To date, the state has focused on vaccinating frontline health care workers, nursing home residents and staff and residents across the state who are older than 65.
Counties are also allowed to vaccinate education and child care, emergency services and food and agriculture workers, but a dearth of vaccine doses and the need for two doses for the two vaccines currently available on the market to take effect has limited the ability to do so in many counties.
Ghaly said the roughly four-week gap between Friday’s announcement and the eligibility changes on March 15 are due in part to ensure counties have enough vaccine doses to make them available to residents with health conditions that put them at greater risk of dying from the coronavirus.
Nearly 8 million vaccine doses have been delivered to local health departments and multi-county health care providers like Kaiser Permanente. Roughly 5.5 million doses have been administered as of late last week.
According to Ghaly, the state’s local health departments and providers are receiving between 1.1 and 1.3 million vaccine doses each week, a number which is expected to grow in the coming weeks as vaccine production increases.
However, state and local officials have stressed that the need for two doses continues to hamper the ability to begin vaccinating newly eligible people.
“The bottom line is we are still dealing very much with a scarcity of vaccine,” Ghaly said.
The change in vaccine eligibility also addresses concerns by advocates for residents with debilitating health conditions, who argued they were left out of the state’s pivot last month to an age-based system of determining vaccine eligibility rather than the risk-based system that state officials had first unveiled when vaccines became available.
“The governor has said he is committed to equity,” Disability Rights California Executive Director Andy Imparato said in a statement last month.
“We share his commitment, and we support vaccinating older Californians as a priority group, but the commitment to equity is meaningless if all of the high-risk people who aren’t over 65 have to wait until June to be vaccinated,” he said.
Ghaly said Friday that the state and the third-party vaccine administrators it has contracted with – Blue Shield and Kaiser – still plan to move to an age-based eligibility system “at some period in the future.”
“We are working to determine what that age span will be and when that date will be triggered,” he said.
“It is going to be largely driven by supply of vaccines … but we are not prepared yet to define that.”
This is unbelievable. What a joke. Now I just need to eat 4 cheeseburgers a day and I qualify for the vaccine? But as an essential worker trying to put food on my families table, paying tax dollars and in the public, I still have to wait for my time. But you can be sitting at home, collecting your state check and eating all day, and you are first up? Oh California. You despise me and so many.
I agree with you. Seems that California is, again, rewarding bad behavior
“Dis is getting borderline comical”
– Tim Conway as Mr. Tudball
The Disability Rights Director is correct, equity is meaningless if high-risk people have to wait months to be vaccinated.
In one sentence this guy makes more sense than the Governor ever has.
But the governor makes the ‘equity’ statement as a political one. He cares more about his political image and power then he cares about the health of the residents of the state.
@WC
Please show me how he care more about power and image than the health of the state.
I remember when the Trump admin witheld funds at the beginning of the pandemic unless he praised Trump on national TV.
Newsome did that. Do you think that helped his image with his huge base here? He kissed the ring, so there could be testing sites and PPE and more things then the state had at the time.
PREGNANT WOMEN:
Please do NOT get a COVID vaccine.
Signed,
Your Unborn Baby 💗
gavin bin lying must really be worried about the #RecallGavinNewsom now!
https://recallgavin2020.com/
So, I am all for vaccinating those who have immune issues and are elderly. But i believe more people will. be vaccinated if they just give the freaking vaccination to those who are willing to be the test subjects. Then the herd immunity starts happening. But our illustrious leader does not want that because then he lose control of the people.
If there were a shortage of people wanting to get vaccinated, this would be true, but the supply can’t keep up with demand right now. Thus, there is a structure for prioritization in place. The rollout is not going at the rate it is because not enough people want the vaccine, there just is not enough supply.
What are you trying to say
theres no shortage its a controlled fake shortage to get people worked up and want it thinking they may not be able to later cause its just selling like hot cakes they better not think and go get it now before it flys off the shelves!!!
This is a joke: Most of California qualifies as obese….
FALSE
https://stateofchildhoodobesity.org/adult-obesity/
You are welcome
On another note heart attacks after receiving vaccine. Concerned due to vaccines and heartaches following.
I’m still waiting for the over 65 vaccine! I haven’t heard anything yet from the County or Kaiser. This must be the most unorganized plan the government has ever done.
Maybe if I got a job at McDonalds I can get a vaccine faster. Being over 65 doesn’t seem to matter.
Yah all for keeping our elders safe but what about Kids! They need to get back into school ASAP same w/ teachers get them both vaccinated. Our elders I get it they still want too continue there days on earth but what about what the kids that aren’t continuing anything ?! We gotta get them back in school for there own good education wise and health wise!