EXCLUSIVE: Republican House leader Kevin McCarthy and Congressman Young Kim led California Republican Party members of Congress in demanding Governor Gavin Newsom’s responses to “failures” in implementing the state’s coronavirus vaccination.
They sent a letter to Newsom on Tuesday, obtained first by Fox News, asking the governor in trouble to answer questions about the number of unused vaccines and why counties and local health care providers cannot get a better alert on the number of vaccines they will be receiving.
“The state of California must explain to Californians why the distribution of the vaccine had such flaws, despite having months to prepare before the vaccine was developed,” wrote the 11 members of the California GOP Congress.
The parliamentarians point out the technical issues, the data gap and the lack of transparency for the setbacks in the distribution of vaccination that have frustrated their voters.
“We wrote to express our serious concerns about the slow and opaque decision-making process in the State of California and the ever-changing approach to the distribution of COVID vaccines, which was met with confusion and frustration by our constituents, local public health officials. and front – health service providers “, wrote members of Congress.
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“With the notable success of Operation Federal Warp Speed in producing safe and effective vaccines and therapies to help fight the coronavirus, the state’s vaccine distribution plan must be coherent, efficient and transparent, otherwise, we fear that more Californians may die as a result of COVID. “
McCarthy and Kim were the main authors of the letter. Joining them were Republican representatives David Valadao, Darrell Issa, Michelle Steel, Mike Garcia, Doug LaMalfa, Devin Nunes, Tom McClintock, Ken Calvert and Jay Obernolte.
Gov. Gavin Newsom, D-Calif., And Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif.
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Lawmakers want answers about why the Golden State is lagging behind other states in the number of vaccines administered per capita. They cite data from February 11 from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which found that California received a total of 7.822 million vaccines, but only 5.134 million of those vaccines were administered.
“This means that about 35 percent of the total vaccines distributed to the Golden State have yet to be administered and puts California behind Florida, New York and Washington in vaccines administered per capita,” lawmakers wrote to Newsom.
Newsom, which is facing a serious recall effort for its response to the coronavirus, said it is working with the Biden Administration to improve the efficiency and fairness of the vaccine launch.
Governor Gavin Newsom bends to speak to a person waiting to get the COVID-19 vaccination at a drive-thru vaccination center at Natomas High School in Sacramento, California, Thursday, February 11, 2021. The appointments were necessary for the 1,000 vaccines to be administered to people aged 65 and over, first responders, health professionals, teachers, food and agriculture employers. Called an equitable distribution site, it prioritized those disproportionately impacted by COVID-19, was the collaboration between the Natomas Unified School District, the Sacramento County Department of Public Health and Vice Mayor Angelique Ashby of Sacramento, behind Newsom , which represents the area. (AP Photo / Rich Pedroncelli)
At a news conference on Tuesday with several officials, Newsom announced the opening of two federally supported mass vaccination sites in Los Angeles and Oakland, which aim to bring vaccines to communities especially affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Each should be able to administer 6,000 vaccinations a day by the end of the week. Each will also have mobile units to enter communities.
“It is close to a community that has been disproportionately impacted by this pandemic,” Newsom said on Tuesday, praising the partnership with FEMA. “The effort here is to solve this problem directly.”
The vast majority of Californians have not yet been vaccinated. As of Tuesday afternoon, just under 6.3 million doses were administered in a state that has nearly 40 million people, according to the state’s vaccine panel.
“We recognize that we have more work to do. The problem at the end of the day is supply,” Newsom said on Tuesday. “We need to manufacture more Modern vaccine, more Pfizer vaccine. We need to get federal approval for the J&J vaccine. We need to provide an ample supply so that we can plan, not just two or three weeks, but over the next few months. “
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Republican Party members, however, say the Newsom administration has not publicly released its formulas for determining the distribution of vaccines in the county, which “made it incredibly difficult for local authorities to develop and implement vaccination plans”.
BUENA PARK, CA – DECEMBER 18, 2020: Young Kim was elected to the US House of Representatives in November 2020. Kim represents the 39th congressional district. Kim and Republican Party leader Kevin McCarthy were the main authors of a letter to Governor Gavin Newsom on February 16, 2021, demanding answers about the vaccine’s launch in California. (Photo by Paul Bersebach / MediaNews Group / Orange County Register via Getty Images)
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They also point to a number of technical problems and bad data, as reported by the Los Angeles Times, which have hampered the accuracy and transparency of the vaccine’s launch.
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“With California being a beacon of technological innovation, this is particularly disconcerting,” wrote members of Congress.
Newsom’s office referred to the governor’s comments on Tuesday at the opening event of the vaccine site, when asked by Fox News about the letter.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.