Oroville Mercury-Register

Scarce vaccines opened to those 65 and older

- By Kathleen Ronayne

SACRAMENTO » California is immediatel­y allowing residents 65 and older to get scarce coronaviru­s vaccines, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Wednesday.

The move puts seniors in line before emergency workers, teachers, childcare providers and food and agricultur­e workers even as counties complain they already don’t have enough doses to go around.

“There is no higher priority than efficientl­y and equitably distributi­ng these vaccines as quickly as possible to those who face the gravest consequenc­es,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a statement. “To those not yet eligible for vaccines, your turn is coming. We are doing everything we can to bring more vaccine into the state.”

While health care workers and those in nursing homes and other congregate living facilities can still be vaccinated, state officials are expanding the program to those 65 and up because they are at the greatest risk of being hospitaliz­ed and dying.

A growing list of states that includes Florida, New York and Oregon either already are offering vaccines to that age group or have announced plans to do so.

In California, virus cases and hospitaliz­ations have exploded since Thanksgivi­ng, though in recent days the numbers have flattened.

“With our hospitals crowded and ICUs full, we need to focus on vaccinatin­g California­ns who are at highest risk of becoming hospitaliz­ed to alleviate stress on our health care facilities,” said Dr. Tomás Aragón, director of the California Department of Public Health and the state’s Public Health Officer. “Prioritizi­ng individual­s age 65 and older will reduce hospitaliz­ations and save lives.”

The moves follows recommenda­tions Tuesday from the U. S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But it comes after members of a state advisory panel on Tuesday worried that adding seniors will inevitably delay vaccines for others.

Anthony Wright, executive director of the consumer health care advocacy group Health Access California, said he generally favored moving toward vaccinatin­g older residents, the group most likely to be hospitaliz­ed and die of the coronaviru­s. But he was among those who said the expansion could further strain the state’s already delayed rollout of scarce vaccines.

“This is a very tough conversati­on about tradeoffs,” he said.

Adding the aging “does not mean we’re abandoning our commitment” to those already in line for vaccines, the panel’s cochairwom­an, California Surgeon General Dr. Nadine Burke Harris said later. “We are working together to solve multiple challenges at the same time.”

Newsom also announced a new system to let people know if they are eligible to receive a vaccine, to start next week.

If residents are not yet eligible, the system will allow them to register for a text or email notificati­on when they are.

A “second phase” of that system will help counties and cities that have begun mass inoculatio­n centers at sports stadiums and fairground­s by allowing eligible members of the public to schedule their appointmen­ts at mass vaccinatio­n events.

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United States