LA mayor says vaccines by ZIP code would have saved lives

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said many deaths could have been prevented if the state focused earlier on vaccinating those in the most disadvantaged neighborhoods, tacit criticism of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s decision to initially focus inoculation efforts by age and profession.

Garcetti also said he’s eager for the day when the state and federal governments take “the handcuffs off us completely” and allow local officials to vaccinate those who they feel are most at risk.

“From a public health perspective, we should have gone in with surge teams to ZIP codes that were hardest hit (by the coronavirus) and just say, ‘ Anybody in this ZIP code gets a vaccine,’” Garcetti said during an online interview with the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. “And we could of — I think — really prevented a lot of deaths.”

Garcetti and Newsom are fellow Democrats and close friends. And while the mayor didn’t name Newsom, his comments ultimately are criticism of the governor’s approach, which were modified earlier this month when he announced 40% of all vaccine doses will go to people in the state’s poorest ZIP codes.

California leads the nation in the number of COVID cases and deaths, with the poor, as well as African Americans and Latinos, accounting for a disproportionately high number

When vaccines first became available in limited form in December, California followed federal recommendations and allowed vaccinations only for health care workers and the elderly and others in nursing homes and other long-term care facilities.

Since then, Newsom has opened up eligibility all people 65 and older as well as teachers, child care workers, farm and food workers, and emergency personnel.