Quit playing favorites, California. Give Stanislaus its fair share of vaccine
The fact that Stanislaus and other Valley counties have received far fewer COVID-19 vaccine doses per capita than swanky coastal counties is infuriating.
What are California state leaders thinking? Did they really think we wouldn’t notice that Napa and Marin counties have scored 18,149 and 17,796 doses per 100,000 residents, respectively, while grudgingly kicking (as of Wednesday) 9,730 per 100,000 over to Stanislaus and a mere 5,673 to Merced?
If bureaucrats in Sacramento really want a class war, this could be a good start.
An equitable distribution system would, at the very least, provide equal numbers of doses per capita to all counties. We might see some wisdom and fairness in that.
More fair would be a formula lifting up places hardest hit by the virus, by sending them more vaccines. Those would include counties here in the San Joaquin Valley, like Stanislaus and its neighbors, San Joaquin and Merced, all of which have suffered with much higher COVID cases and deaths than the Bay Area.
A truly compassionate system would reward places with higher numbers of essential workers, including farm laborers putting food on everyone’s tables. Again, that’s us.
But the way state leaders have chosen to do this is not equitable, fair or compassionate. In fact, it’s upside down.
It’s as if someone looked at all these factors and said, “Let’s give more of these life-saving doses to the educated, the rich, the powerful and the politically connected. We’ll get to the have-nots eventually. Yeah, that’s a good plan.”
Simply infuriating.
Not one of the San Joaquin Valley’s eight counties appears on the most-favored list, or those receiving at least 14,000 doses per 100,000 residents, while Napa, Marin, Contra Costa, Sonoma, San Mateo and San Francisco all do. All are far better off in nearly every measure associated with well-being, whether income, political clout, air quality, incidence of diabetes or heart disease, or coronavirus sickness and death.
Of California’s 58 counties, Stanislaus ranks 39th in number of vaccine doses per capita, followed by even more appalling Fresno (40th), San Joaquin (43rd), Mariposa (56th) and Merced (57th). Fresno seems to be getting someone’s attention; Gov. Gavin Newsom did a press conference there Wednesday to announce hopes of a mass vaccination center, and suddenly that county received 19,000 new doses — more than twice the expected allotment of 8,000.
When Newsom ruled everyone 65 and older eligible for vaccination a few weeks ago, only two counties had their stuff together enough to immediately start getting shots into seniors’ arms — Orange and Stanislaus. You would think the state might actually send more vaccine to those who have proven they can handle it, a reward for those who have shown capacity for fast action under pressure. But no.
It’s maddeningly unconscionable.
No rhyme or reason
Leaders in both Stanislaus and Merced counties on Tuesday said they’ve tried in vain to find out why the state’s secret distribution formula frowns on this area. Could it be because it’s arbitrary? Or because the unfairness would be uncomfortably obvious?
U.S. Rep. Josh Harder, a Turlock Democrat, fired off a letter to Newsom and the Federal Emergency Management Agency on Wednesday along with four south Valley congressmen from both political parties, demanding that the imbalance be corrected. They couldn’t be more right.
Mr. Governor, with all due respect, press conferences are not what we need or want. We need and want our fair share of vaccines.
We’ve done well with what we have to protect our people so far, and we stand ready to do more. We are limited only by short supply, partly because your people are playing favorites.
Give us what we need to make a stand against this deadly and heartbreaking pandemic. Give us our fair share of doses.
This story was originally published February 11, 2021 at 6:41 AM.