KHTS Radio Santa Clarita Radio – Santa Clarita News
A dozen California Republicans, including Mike Garcia, R- Santa Clarita, wrote a letter to Governor Gavin Newsom Tuesday, voicing their concerns over COVID-19 vaccine rollout in the state.
“With the remarkable success of the federal government’s Operation Warp Speed in producing safe and effective vaccines and therapeutics to aid in the fight against the coronavirus, the State’s vaccine distribution plan must be coherent, efficient, and transparent; otherwise we fear more Californians may die as the result of COVID,” reads the letter.
The congresspersons argue that while the federal government has been clear on it’s vaccine distribution, the state of California has been “confusing and frustrating.”
“According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as of February 11th, the State of California has received a total of 7.822 million vaccines, yet only 5.134 million of these vaccines have been administered,” reads the letter. “This means that roughly 35 percent of the total vaccines distributed to the Golden State remain to be administered and places California behind Florida, New York, and Washington State in vaccines administered on a per capita basis.”
On Jan. 27, Newsom announced that Blue Shield of California and Kaiser Permanente would assume management of overseeing vaccine distribution to counties, pharmacies, and health care providers in the State, according to the letter.
See Related: Governor Newsom Announces Shift To Age-Based COVID-19 Vaccine Eligibility System
Since Jan. 26, there has been a single statewide standard and movement through the tiers. The state plans to continue vaccinations for people aged 65 years and over, health care workers, and prioritize emergency services, food and agriculture workers, teachers and school staff.
From there, the state transitioned to age-based eligibility, allowing California to scale up and down quickly, while ensuring vaccines go to disproportionately impacted communities, state officials said at the time.
“While the State recently published vaccine allocations per county on its website, it is our understanding your Administration has not publicly disclosed its formulas that determine county vaccine allocations, which has made it incredibly difficult for local officials to develop and implement vaccination plans,” reads the letter. “Further, your Administration retains sole authority over approving additional providers eligible to administer COVID vaccines and,as we understand it,this process has taken at times weeks to secure approval—only further hampering efforts to increase vaccinations across California to save lives and help restore life to normal.”
The letter requests that Governor Newsom divulge how his administration determines vaccine allocation, including “the percentage of vaccines administered relative to total vaccines distributed to counties and health systems.”
The letter also asks why the state has not implemented a three-week allocation estimate to allow for better planning ahead, as well as inquiring how many vaccines remain to be distributed within the state.
“It is our hope that your Administration take immediate steps to inform local public health officials and health care providers how vaccines are being distributed around the State to assist them with planning and resolve any and all software problems so Californians can get access to vaccines in their communities,” the letter reads.
The letter was signed by eleven Republican Congressional representatives from California, including Garcia.
Read the full text of the letter here.
Ed. Note: The above information was provided to KHTS by house Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy.
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Well we know one knee-jerk formula that Newsome used. He randomly pulled pot dispensary workers into tier 1b and ahead of at-risk people under 65 with underlying conditions.That “equity” formula is really working out for the greater good of society isnt it.
Republicans still think the 2020 election was rigged and I am supposed to believe your numbers? Gimme a break and let the adults do their job in Sacramento. 500,000 Americans dead is not Operation Warp Speed. Garcia is another fraud.
Mike Garcia is truly a terrible person. The flat lied about vaccination race in the state. The reality is, at the time of this press release, 6.69 million Californians had been vaccinated. At that time, as a nation we were vaccinating over 1 million people a day. So the gap between the 5.13 million he stated and the actual 6.69 million, is massive. He can claim he made a mistake, but that is a massive mistake. The fact is, at the time our vaccine roll out was very boring. Everything about it was average. But he can’t do anything with boring or average. He had to make up his own numbers so we can talk about how badly or roll out was going. Of course, just to blame it on Gavin Newsom.