California Governor Gavin Newsom has once again change his coronavirus strategy and will not reopen the state until 2 million Latinos are vaccinated.
Newsom announced that 40% of all the state’s vaccines will go to the Latino communities living in the Central Valley and in areas of LA that have suffered the most as a result of the coronavirus.
State Health and Human Services Director Dr. Mark Ghaly said the state will only reopen once these areas are vaccinated.
“As we achieve higher levels of vaccine in the hardest hit communities, we feel more confident that more and more activities across the state can occur,” he said in a briefing Thursday.
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Once 2 million vaccine doses are given out in those neighborhoods, the state will make it easier for counties to move through reopening tiers that dictate business and school reopenings. With 1.6 million shots administered, he said he expects to hit that target in the next week or two.
Once the state gives out 4 million doses in those neighborhoods, state officials will revise the metrics for reopening sooner.
“It is a race against the variants. It’s a race against exhaustion. It’s a race to safely, thoughtfully open our economy, mindful that it has to be an economy that doesn’t leave people behind, that is truly inclusive,” Newsom, a Democrat, said at a news conference.The California Governor also wants people to wear two masks.
Amusingly, the change now takes vaccinations away from teachers who were scheduled to get the vaccine so public schools could open. Democrat State lawmaker Lorena Gonzalez is concerned that the new plan will interfere with schools reopening.
The changes announced Wednesday are “kind of not fair” to those who negotiated the deal, Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez said.
“If we are going to change the tiers and suddenly everyone is in red tier, that changes the classes that have to be open, the number of classes and the testing cadences,” the San Diego Democrat said Thursday just before the Legislature voted on the bill. “So, if you get calls from your teachers union a little upset, they have the right to be upset. You don’t negotiate a deal and change the parameters of that deal on the day we are voting on it.”
Teachers Unions are not happy.
“We’ve changed the meaning of what it means to be in a tier now three times,” executive director of the California Teachers Association said Thursday, speaking on a panel with the Public Policy Institute of California. “At some point, we have to have some consistency of what to expect.”
ABC News 7 reported that Newsom is committed to giving out vaccines based on equity.
“Gov. Gavin Newsom has called equity the state’s “North Star.” Yet community health clinics focused on serving low-income and vulnerable Californians say they haven’t been getting enough doses. Ghaly said Thursday that Newsom’s administration will work with communities to make sure the vaccine actually ends up in the arms of those patients, not to day-trippers from wealthier ZIP codes who have the time and tech savvy to schedule appointments online.”
Just like people who decide to wear or not wear masks, when it comes to the vaccine it’s their body and their choice. What is Newsom going to do if those communities choose not to receive the vaccine? In the name of not being “racists” Newsom is pressuring a minority population to get the vaccine or he’s going to keep things closed. He is basically telling minorities that if they want to work then they must receive the vaccine or else.
What could possibly go wrong?
