A California program aimed at improving the availability of the COVID-19 vaccine to people in hard-hit black communities is being misused by outsiders who are getting appointments reserved for residents of disadvantaged black and Latino areas.
The program to address inequalities in vaccine distribution depends on special access codes that allow people to book appointments on the My Turn vaccine scheduling website. The codes are provided to community organizations for distribution to people in predominantly black and Latino communities.
But those codes have also been circulating, in group messages and texts, among the wealthiest working at home in Los Angeles, the Times found. Many of these people are still not eligible for the vaccine under state rules.
Some people who managed to make an appointment are driving to Cal State Los Angeles to take the pictures.
It is unclear how the codes fell into the hands of strangers, but the situation has forced the state to strive to protect the integrity of a program of actions that Governor Gavin Newsom and other officials have been hailing. The state canceled commitments made with at least one of the access codes after The Times asked about it last week.
The establishment of justice in the vaccine distribution process has been an important aspect of the vaccine’s launch in California. Newsom has always talked about the importance of administering vaccines “through an equity lens”. But deep inequalities have still emerged in the administration of the vaccine in the state, with white and Asian residents in wealthy areas being inoculated at much higher rates than black and Latino people in poorer areas.
Under the plan, the state plans to reserve a block of appointments every day at Cal State LA and the Oakland Coliseum, according to an email sent to community partners by the director of the Office of Access and Functional Needs of the Office of the California Governor for Emergency Services.
The blocking of consultations is only accessible with a specific code, which changes periodically according to use, according to the email.
The codes are intended for use by people in communities of color who are eligible for the vaccine, including healthcare professionals and people over 65, but who might otherwise have difficulty getting an appointment.
State officials were contacted by more than 2,000 community groups interested in participating in the program, according to Cal OES spokesman Brian Ferguson.
But problems with the program surfaced early last week, shortly after the codes were made available.
Three separate access codes for vulnerable populations in Los Angeles have strayed far from their intended recipients, paving the way for wealthier social and professional networks, the Times found. In all cases, the origin of the access codes has remained unclear. Those who circulated the codes did not seem to be aware that they were intended for hard-hit communities. In several cases, people thought they had found a pilot program open to everyone.
A person who shared an access code with The Times on Thursday said that several of the person’s friends, who would otherwise be ineligible, were able to make an appointment for vaccines on the Cal State LA website using the code. As of Sunday night, several of these people had been vaccinated, said the person who asked not to be identified because he did not want to offend friends who shared the code. The individual, who is white, described his friends as also being white and “in a bracket where they are very protected”.
Another person who spoke to The Times said he received a screenshot of a message with a seven-digit access code and a link to the My Turn website on Tuesday morning. A doctor friend sent the link to the COVID-19 vaccine consultations, wrote the original sender. “Apparently, it’s a new test site that is ‘testing the system’ for a few days before opening appointments for the elderly and the sick, etc. Anyone can sign up if queries are available. Take a chance! “
The code worked when a Times reporter made an attempt on Tuesday morning, opening a page through which a person could make an appointment at the newly opened Cal State LA community vaccination center. Another person who spoke to The Times the same day said that he had received the access code from a friend and did not know how the friend had acquired it.
The stated purpose of the access codes is not broadcast anywhere on the My Turn website, nor does the website say that the codes are intended for use by certain groups only. Even with an access code, the blocks of actual appointments still remain limited and are not always available on the website.
The interruption of the program is the most recent example of inequity in a pandemic defined by its disproportionate impact on low-income black communities. The same problems have been reflected in the county’s informal vaccination lines, in which large groups of predominantly white people camp for hours outside a clinic in southern Los Angeles hoping for an injection.
Ferguson acknowledged that there were cases of a community group that forwarded the code to its members “in a very well-intentioned way” and the email was then more widely shared with the general public.
“To address this, we have taken steps to ensure that we are auditing, monitoring very carefully how the codes are used,” he said, explaining that the program is new and the challenges are being faced.
On Monday night, the codes spread so quickly over certain social networks that a 40-year-old woman who lives near downtown Los Angeles told The Times that she had received three codes from different people in the past few days.
She refused to make an appointment, but knew several people – whom she described as white and “non-essential workers” – who were successfully vaccinated using the codes. “Nobody thinks they are doing anything wrong,” said the woman, who declined to give her name because she did not want to offend those who had shared the code with her.
“They honestly convinced themselves that they are leftovers, that this is a pilot test, open to everyone.”
The Times staff writer John Myers contributed to this report.