California to set aside 40% of COVID-19 vaccine doses for hardest-hit communities

[March 05, 2021]  LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - California Governor Gavin Newsom said on Thursday the state would set aside 40% of its COVID-19 vaccine doses for the hardest-hit communities and establish a "vaccine equity metric," to make sure that inoculations are conducted fairly.

Newsom, a first-term Democrat facing a recall effort amid criticism of his strict lockdown measures, said the move was necessary because lower-income households were suffering coronavirus infections at double those of families making $120,000 or more.

Newsom said California’s wealthiest populations were also being vaccinated at nearly twice the rate of those at the bottom of the income scale.

"Vaccinating our most impacted communities, across our state, is the right thing to do and the fastest way to end this pandemic," Newsom said in announcing the plan

(Reporting by Brendan O'Brien in Chicago and Dan Whitcomb in Los Angeles; Editing by Chris Reese and Peter Cooney)

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