At least until mid-March, California is reserving 40% of the vaccine doses allocated to the state’s most affected communities, officials announced this week.
Low-income colored populations, usually workers in frontline jobs, have consistently endured the disproportionate impact of the disease.
In response, California Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly, chief health officer for Calfiornia, said this week that vaccines would target the poorest and most diverse postal codes in the state. They are shown on the map above.
Residents in these areas must still be eligible before being vaccinated – this means people aged 65 and over, medical workers, teachers and other education workers, as well as an increasing number of categories of essential workers.
Postal codes were prioritized based on the Healthy Places Index. It compares conditions in communities across the state based on a series of 25 indicators that shape health and life expectancy, including access to health, environmental conditions, economic stability and housing cost / availability.
Forty percent of the state’s COVID-19 cases and deaths occurred in the lowest quartile on the Index – where health conditions are worst, officials said.
Even though case rates drop in the general population, infection rates in households earning less than $ 40,000 a year are more than double those earning $ 120,000 or more, officials said. This reflects the rate of vaccination: the wealthiest populations in the state are being vaccinated at almost twice the rate of the poorest populations, according to the state.