State health officials are considering changing the plan again on who gets priority for the COVID-19 vaccine.
The vaccine advisory committee suggests that those with medical conditions be next in line after people over 65 and some essential workers.
Dr. Oliver Brooks is one of the top officials on the committee explained who would be added to the next tier of those getting shots.
“Individuals ages 16 to 64, with underlying serious medical conditions or disabilities that increase their risk of developing severe COVID-19,” Brooks tells KNX.
This latest plan follows widespread criticism of proposals for the state to an age-based vaccine system. Many of the details still have to be worked out as those with medical conditions at the moment could only get shots at clinics or hospitals, not at mass vaccination sites such as Dodger Stadium.
“The proposal that was presented, I think it’s the best attempt to thread the needle based on science,” Aaron Carruthers, the executive director at the California State Council on Developmental Disabilities, also a member of the committee tells The Sacramento Bee. But “it’s very complicated. It’s very confusing. I think it’s very difficult to implement.”
At present, California has focused its vaccine efforts on those ages 65 and above, as well as some essential employees, healthcare workers, farmworkers, and teachers. Governor Gavin Newsom has said that after that group, the next would be age-based eligibility and not those with health issues or disabilities.
“Age is not the only factor in determining risk,” Alice Wong, a disabled activist in San Francisco, told the Sacramento Bee. “This decision by the Newsom administration is an act of violence and erasure toward groups disproportionately impacted by the pandemic.”