>>A key indicator is the state’s lagging record in administering the vaccination doses it has been allocated, according to the California Center for Jobs and the Economy, the research arm of the California Roundtable.
The California Center, using data from the Centers for Disease Control, reported that through last week, California had used slightly over 70% of its supply, well under the national figure and ninth lowest among the 50 states.
Initially, Newsom had a priority plan for vaccines as they became available, worked out during months of consultation and drafting, but it was quickly abandoned as unworkable once the vaccines began arriving. Ever since, the criteria have changed almost daily, without any explanation of why.
Just this week, millions more Californians were added to the priority list. “Inundating a system already straining under the weight of limited supply, pervasive tech glitches, political infighting and general confusion,” as CalMatters blogger Emily Hoeven described it.
Supposedly the elderly and those with disabilities and severe health conditions were to be near the head of the line, but then Newsom set aside 10% of the vaccine supply for education workers to persuade them to reopen schools and another 40% for low-income communities where COVID-19 has hit the hardest. Last week, the state suddenly added transit workers, commercial airline employees, the homeless and those held in federal immigration centers.
On top of the state’s ever-changing priorities, Newsom decreed that health care giants Blue Shield and Kaiser would assume management of the state’s vaccine supplies, but local public health authorities, who had been managing vaccinations, balked at being compelled to deal with Blue Shield.
Meanwhile, the state’s effort at making vaccination appointments fairer and less stressful, called MyTurn, experienced glitches that rendered it almost useless.
Instead of the smoothly functioning vaccination system that Newsom touted in his State of the State address, it’s a confusing jumble that encourages line-cutting gamesmanship and breeds cynicism.<<
What began as a phased vaccination rollout based on science has become a purely political exercise.
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