States using race-based ‘equity’ metric to distribute early doses

States from California to

New York are using race, ethnicity and social justice considerations when deciding who gets early access to the limited supplies of COVID-19 vaccine, a controversial approach rejected by some health care advocates.

On Tuesday, New Hampshire

Gov. Chris Sununu and his top health official told Insidesources the Granite State will be setting aside 10% of its Phase 1B for distribution based on race and ethnicity.

According to the 2010 Census, New Hampshire’s population is 93% white. Fewer than 2% of Granite Staters are Black. The elderly, who are most likely to die from contracting COVID, are even whiter than the population as a whole.

A total of 32 states will be using some sort of equity calculation, rather than solely relying on science, according to a review by public health expert Harald Schmidt of the University of Pennsylvania, an advocate of the policy. News that the

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and some national public health professionals were urging distribution of the scarce, lifesaving vaccine based on race sparked an outcry.

“That is affirmative action. That’s choosing one group over another,” says Lawrence Gostin, professor of global health law at Georgetown University.

Data guru Nate Silver of Fivethirtyeight said the vaccines should be handed out based on risk and not any other factor, and the top risk is age.

“Age needs to be a higher priority than pre-existing conditions in vaccine rollout plans.”

Michael Graham is political editor at Insidesources.