San Francisco Chronicle
By Nanette Asimov
Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office is negotiating changes to a new state plan for inoculating the poorest Californians after local lawmakers complained that it bypassed the Bay Area, legislators involved in the discussions said.
The state’s vaccine distribution plan, set to take effect this week, is supposed to send 40% of the vaccine supply to people living in the state’s poorest ZIP codes. On Friday, The Chronicle posted an analysis of the new plan showing that Bay Area residents represented just 2% of the people in ZIP codes covered by the new system — even though the region represents 20% of California’s population and has many needy people.
“Our phones were blowing up after the media stories about the disproportionate share,” state Sen. Dave Cortese, D-San Jose, told The Chronicle Monday, referring to lawmakers in every Bay Area county. “That inspired us to try to use our positions” to change that.
He and other Bay Area political leaders scheduled a news conference for Monday morning to announce their “urgent request” for Newsom and state officials to rework the plan. Besides Cortese, the Bay Area leaders included Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco; Sen. Josh Becker, D-Menlo Park; Assemblymember Ash Kalra, D-San Jose; Santa Clara County Supervisor Cindy Chavez; and Morgan Hill Mayor Rich Constantine.
But the lawmakers canceled the announcement at the last minute when state Sen. Mike McGuire, D-Healdsburg, told them Newsom’s office was willing to meet. McGuire, Cortese and Wiener participated.