SAN FRANCISCO (AP) – Teresa Parada is exactly the kind of person, California officials who think about fairness say they want to vaccinate: she is a retired factory worker who speaks little English and lives in a severely affected part of Los Angeles County .
But the 70-year-old Parade waited weeks while others her age went to Dodger Stadium or received the coronavirus through large hospital networks. The place where she normally receives medical care, AltaMed, is now receiving enough resources to vaccinate her later this month.
The parade said TV reports show people lining up to get shot, but “I only see vaccines going to Anglos.”
“It’s rare to see a Latino there for a vaccine. When will it be our turn? ” she said.
Governor Gavin Newsom has repeatedly called the capital the “North Star” for vaccinating a diverse state of nearly 40 million. He worked with the federal government to set up mass vaccination sites in working-class neighborhoods in Oakland and Los Angeles. And that’s much of the reason he commissioned insurer Blue Shield to centralize California’s patchwork vaccine system, asking the Kaiser Permanente hospital chain to assist.
However, officials at community health centers that serve as a safety net for the poor in the U.S., focused on health equity, say they do not receive enough doses for their patients – residents who are at high risk of being vaccinated by the state.
In California, nearly 1,400 such centers offer free or low-cost services to about 7 million people, many in communities with a higher concentration of low-income families and few providers taking Medicaid, known in California as Mediid. -Horse. Many of their clients speak a language other than English, work long hours, have no transportation, and want to go to the health care professionals they trust.
Dr. Efrain Talamantes, chief operating officer for AltaMed Health Services, said it was discouraging to follow the initial doses that go elsewhere, while his patients continued to test positive for the virus.
“There is a clear disparity whenever there is a resource that is limited,” he said.
Most states are looking for ways to distribute a limited amount of vaccines, resulting in a mix of methods in the absence of a federal plan. Tennessee is among the states that distribute doses based on county populations, while California allocates them to eligible groups, including teachers and farm workers. Free for all has allowed people with the most resources to register rare vaccinations.
Dr. Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, president of the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the University of California, San Francisco, said it seems obvious that the best strategy for getting vaccines in affected communities is to turn to places where people already receive care. But big box managers tend to think community health centers are less efficient because of their smaller size, she said.
“We are not very imaginative in how we deliver the vaccine effectively. Our only creative solutions are to build mass vaccination sites and it can give people preferential access to these sites, ”she said.
As California has stepped up vaccination efforts through mobile and pop-up clinics at churches, construction sites, and schools, state data shows how few photos went to Latinos and blacks compared to their populations.
African Americans received 3% of vaccine doses while accounting for 6% of the state. Latinos, who make up 39% of the state, received 17% of the dose.
Blue Shield officials say they plan to keep health centers that already administer vaccines open, but clinics worry they will not receive enough doses.
State spokesman for vaccines Darrel Ng said the governor’s plan for fair vaccination includes giving up vaccines to “disproportionately affected communities and ensuring that providers serving those communities are part of the network.” He said in a statement that it includes sending mobile clinics to places such as black churches.
Andie Martinez Patterson, vice president of government affairs at the California Primary Care Association, said that while large-scale health care systems can vaccinate people quickly, they probably won’t reach targeted residents.
Community health centers have worked hard to persuade their patients to do so, said Alexander Rossel, executive director of Families Together in Orange County, adding that his center inoculated 95 percent of its patients over the age of 65. .
Health centers were dismayed that the vaccine for health workers initially went to larger hospitals in December. Then they looked at richer English speakers with internet experience, with time to surf web portals and drive long distances for meetings gathered in inoculation arenas.
When Orange County began opening large-scale vaccination sites in mid-January, community health centers also demanded doses, said Isabel Becerra, chief executive of the Coalition of Community Health Centers in Orange County.
“We have no transportation. We don’t speak English. We do not understand the technology you are asking us to use to record and align us. So can we vaccinate the population aged 65 and older in the comfort of their own facilities? ” she said.
Jodie Wingo, interim president of the community health association for Riverside and San Bernardino counties, said member clinics are expanding to inoculate more than 500,000 patients. But now I only get a few dozen doses at a time.
“Everyone is working for equity, but it doesn’t seem fair. At all, “she said.
AltaMed, from Los Angeles and Orange counties, recently began receiving 3,000 doses per week from the two counties. The supply should allow customers such as Parada, who is originally from Mexico, to receive their vaccine this month.
AltaMed will send a vehicle to take her to a shotgun clinic that will protect her when she goes out, double-masked, shopping for the family.
“I am the one who has to go out. I have to protect myself, “she said.