Many of the worst-hit neighborhoods in the Bay Area have been left out of the new equity-oriented vaccine distribution scheme, frustrating local officials and community clinics that rush to vaccinate the region’s most vulnerable populations.
The list of more than 400 priority ZIP codes in California – for which the state will reserve about 40% of vaccine supplies – covers several low-income neighborhoods, such as Oakland’s Fruitvale, North Richmond and San Francisco’s Tenderloin district. But notably absent are other areas where residents contracted and died of COVID-19 at high rates, such as East San Jose, East Palo Alto, Hayward, San Rafael and Concord.
In all, only 10 ZIP codes from the Bay Area were on the list – and none are located in Santa Clara, San Mateo or Marin counties. Contra Costa has only one postal code listed, while Alameda has three and San Francisco has two. Sonoma and Santa Cruz are also totally absent.
“It’s criminal,” said Jeff Smith, Santa Clara County executive. “This means that people in our county with the highest pandemic risk will receive less vaccines than people in counties who have done a worse job of dealing with poverty and health risks for years.”
California Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly first announced the new vaccine plan, which is related to the reopening of the economy, on Wednesday and released the full list of postal codes targeted for the night Thursday. The state is reserving 40% of its vaccine available for these postal codes; once 2 million shots are fired, restrictions will be loosened to allow counties to pass through the reopening system more quickly.
The state based the list on a health equity metric known as the California Healthy Places Index, which ranks census sectors based on income, levels of education, access to health care and other factors. Still, many communities that expected to be included – and where case rates remain high – have been left out.
The Santa Clara County ZIP Code 95122 in East San Jose, for example, has 1,358 cases per 10,000 residents – more than twice the county rate and more than 50% higher than California’s overall case rate. Gilroy, who like the 95122 ZIP is mostly Latinx, has a case rate of 1,318 cases per 10,000 people. The state does not consider any of the priority CEPs.
Meanwhile, in Contra Costa County, authorities signed three zip codes – 94801, 94804 and 94806 – earlier this month for a vaccine partnership with John Muir Health using what she believed to be the same “Healthy Places” criteria as state, said the former mayor and the activist community Genoveva Calloway. However, only postal code 94801 covering North Richmond appeared on the state list. Alameda County Hayward and Cherryland and Ashland not merged are similarly on their own.
Most of the priority postal codes are in Southern California.
In a press call on Friday, Ghaly said he had answered “similar questions” from several counties about not including their zip codes. He did not offer an additional vaccine, but said, “We are working to ensure that all counties with the supply of the vaccines they receive are targeting the most affected zip codes in their county.”
“I was very, very, very surprised,” said Andrea Schwab-Galindo, CEO of Tiburcio Vasquez Health Center. “How does it work? Who’s planning this? I understand that they won’t be able to please everyone, but at least be clear about it.”
Around the bay area, community clinics and providers have been working to prioritize vulnerable communities with host sites, mobile clinics and door-to-door evangelism. However, these efforts have been hampered by scarce supplies that the new implementation is intended to partially alleviate.
On Friday, Santa Clara County almost had to cancel a vaccination event in the Alviso neighborhood in San Jose because of limited doses of the vaccine, said Reymundo Espinoza, CEO of partner organization Gardner Health Services. The state’s guarantee of extra vaccines would have been a blessing.
“I can’t keep up with the demand. I stretched my team to the point that I could no longer do this and continue to receive requests: ‘Can you go here, can you go there?’ to vaccinate people, ”said Espinoza.
To complicate matters, the state’s new contract with insurance giant Blue Shield, which began overseeing the distribution of vaccines on March 1. In their first public speech on Friday, Blue Shield officials said they planned to bring all counties into their centralized system by the end of March. After evaluating the federal government’s total supply, Blue Shield will channel doses to counties based on their CEP eligible populations, with sufficient vaccine reserved to ensure that priority CEPs receive a double share.
Mike Callagy, San Mateo County Manager, said he received word from Blue Shield that the partnership will change little about how vaccines are now being distributed locally. But without a clear explanation of why places like East Palo Alto and Daly City did not make the state’s list, he is concerned about the weeks to come.
“We have these vulnerable groups of communities here, and a life is a life,” said Callagy. “We should be receiving doses to take care of people here, as well as in the rest of the state.”
San Jose city councilor Magdalena Carrasco – whose district includes parts of East San Jose – said she and other South Bay officials are working to get an explanation of the state. On Friday, she helped open a vaccination post at Eastridge Mall in East San Jose to better serve the nearby community.
“It’s like, what the hell, man?” Said Carrasco. “Allow us to make decisions about where the essential workers are and send them where needed. Do not handcuff us, do not classify us, do not decide for us. We will know better who is in our yard. “
The team’s editor, Leonardo Castañeda, contributed to the report.