California officials said on Friday that people aged 16 to 64 who are disabled or at high risk of COVID-19 morbidity and mortality will be eligible to be vaccinated starting next month.
The move comes after weeks of debate over who will get to the front of the line for precious doses, which remain in short supply. Officials estimate that the move will make 4 million to 6 million people eligible for the vaccine, bringing the total number of eligible Californians to between 17 million and 20 million, or about half the state.
But supplies remain very limited. Based on current allocation projections, California will not come close to meeting demand for some time. Ultimately, it will be up to local providers to decide who gets the vaccine immediately, with medical professionals, first responders, people aged 65 and over, teachers and essential professionals, all competing for vaccines.
The underlying conditions explicitly stated include cancer; chronic kidney disease, stage four or higher; chronic lung disease; Down’s syndrome; immunocompromised immune system of solid organ transplantation; pregnancy; sickle cell anemia; heart disease, such as heart failure, coronary artery disease or cardiomyopathies (excluding hypertension); severe obesity; and type 2 diabetes mellitus.
The state also broadly defined eligible individuals as those who are likely to develop a serious life-threatening illness due to a COVID-19 infection or have limited ability to receive ongoing care or services vital to their survival.
These groups can start receiving the vaccine on March 15.
State Secretary for Health and Human Services, Mark Ghaly, did not provide details on what verification individuals would need to provide to receive the vaccine.
The news follows a meeting last week set by a high-level task force with members of the Aging, Disability Services and Health and Human Services departments that set out the details of a proposal raised by a vaccine advisory committee.
Governor Gavin Newsom’s previous announcement last month that the state would change the priority of the vaccine to one based on age The eligibility structure has raised concerns in groups representing the disabled community, who may now have to wait longer to be vaccinated, with hundreds sharing their frustrations on social media.
Friday’s announcement was well received by supporters.
“There is no doubt that there will be many challenges, but there is also no doubt that this new policy is dramatically better,” said Andy Imparato of Disability Rights California, who also serves on the state’s vaccine advisory committee. “This creates an escape valve for people under 65”, who can still face significant risks.
Imparato said he hoped the new rule would close the disparities that have affected the vaccine’s release so far. Many of the same factors that have made the pandemic more deadly in black, Latin, and Native American communities also create or intensify deficiencies, so extending the current level to include those with significant comorbidities would mean that more doses have reached affected communities than in an age system. based on, he said.
“We can look at a map and tell which CEP has the most cases of COVID – these are often the same communities that have higher rates of diabetes and other comorbidities,” said Dr. Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, epidemiologist and co-founder of the UCSF Center for Vulnerable populations. “But that kind of language [around severe risk] it is difficult to implement and programs that are difficult to implement create problems of efficiency and problems of equity ”.
In particular, she and others feared that the requirement for documentation could disrupt California’s already slow vaccination program.
“We need to be careful not to question who is deficient enough to be vaccinated,” said Alyssa Burgart, a bioethicist at Stanford. “It is so easy to show how old you are. But there is a huge variety in the type of disability that can put you at greater risk for COVID. “
Alice Wong, 46, a disabled activist in San Francisco who created the hashtag #HighRiskCA in response to the change, agrees.
“There are many people who do not have a primary care provider [to provide documentation], “she said.“ We don’t need any more obstacles. ”