Advocates are reportedly pushing this week for California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) to champion equity and racial justice in the state’s strategy to distribute the coronavirus vaccine by granting urgent access to some illegals, indigenous groups, and incarcerated individuals described as vulnerable.
They assert that some illegal workers in California are essential employees that the virus has disproportionally impacted. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has reported that minorities overall, particularly the elderly with underlying health conditions, are disproportionally affected by the Chinese coronavirus.
The advocates cited racism for why California, a sanctuary state, has not added illegal “essential” workers to the list of people who will get the shot before it is widely available and “historical injustice” for placing indigenous people ahead of most of the population.
In fact, California has reportedly yet to define “essential” workers for the second round of vaccines.
While several states have added inmates to the front of the line for getting the shot, California may go a step further and allow some illegals that advocates consider essential workers to get the vaccine before it becomes widely available.
The Guardian noted:
In the discussions of equity, there are also major geographic disparities to consider. California’s farmworkers, who are primarily Latino, have suffered dramatically during the crisis in the Central Valley and continue to work in perilous conditions while producing a majority of many of America’s fruits, nuts, and vegetables. Latinos make up 60% of Covid cases in the state, even though they are 40% of the population.
“The systematic racism that has been built into the federal exclusion of agricultural workers is something that this country cannot deny,” Diana Tellefson Torres, the executive director of the United Farm Workers Foundation(UFW), who is also a member of the state’s vaccine advisory committee, told the Guardian.
“Farmworkers are always the invisible workforce, but they are doing the essential work of feeding this nation. They need to be protected,” Dolores Huerta, a longtime labor activist in the Central Valley, added.
Torres urged the state government to “invest [taxpayer-funded] resources as soon as possible” to locate hard-to-reach farmworkers because they frequently change jobs and work in geographically isolated areas.
Virginia Hedrick, a member of the Yurok tribe and an advocate, conceded there are false conspiracy theories that officials prioritize “equity” in administering the vaccine so they can test it on communities of color as “guinea pigs.”
Hedrick acknowledged that she has been combating that message “by noting that the focus on equity is what activists have been demanding.”
“This is what we in the social justice movement have been asking for. This is an answer to prayer,” she said.
Hedrick, who also serves on California’s vaccine committee, pushed for the vaccine’s urgent availability for Native American communities without large hospital systems.
Indigenous populations should be easy to prioritize given their low population in California, she said, adding, “The equity lens should include historical injustice.”
As of last week, nearly nine states had already put what appeared to be all inmates ahead of the general public in the first of three tiers. Early this month, Gov. Newsom reportedly indicated that those in “correctional facility hospitals” would be among the first to get the vaccine from the first batch.
This week, the Los Angeles Times reported that the second tier would focus on “essential workers.” Although the prioritization efforts are a work in progress, the Times noted that the third tier would focus “on high-risk groups, including seniors and people with chronic health conditions,” which means they could come after some illegal aliens if Newsom meets the advocates’ demands.
Early this month, the CDC advised states that health care workers, residents, and staff of nursing homes and other long-term care facilities should get the shot first.
The first of three distribution phases or tiers, primarily focusing on health care workers and nursing home employees and residents, began this week. Pfizer delivered the doses Sunday, and they arrived in places across America Monday, where doses were administered to nurses and some of their ilk.
It reportedly remains unclear when California will move the second of the three tiers. Some illegal migrants, like undocumented caregivers, are concerned that they will not get a vaccine because their job is under the table, which could mean they do not pay taxes.
Aquilina Soriano Versoza, the Pilipino Workers Center (PWC) director in L.A., indicated she “fears similar problems with vaccines, noting that some of their jobs aren’t on the books or are in private homes.”
With record-high unemployment numbers, native-born Americans and legal immigrants considered essential also want the vaccine to be able to go back to work as soon as possible.
American biotechnology company Moderna requested the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for its vaccine candidate on November 30. FDA officials have set aside Thursday to consider Moderna’s application
The leftist New York Times admitted this week that President-elect Joe Biden’s border promises are creating a migrant wave that could intensify with a promise of a vaccine in California.
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