Several Central Coast zip codes make list to get 40% of state’s vaccines, but two counties have none

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (KION) State officials announced last week that they will be setting aside 40% of California's COVID-19 vaccines for underserved communities

They said the communities that they will go to are at the bottom of California's Healthy Places Index, and 400 zip codes have been identified.

The list of zip codes have been released, and these are the ones on the Central Coast that made the list:

• 93450
• 93905
• 93926
• 93927
• 93930
• 93932
• 93954
• 93960
• 95039

All of the listed Central Coast zip codes are in Monterey County. None of the ones Santa Cruz or San Benito Counties made the list.

Jason Hoppin with Santa Cruz County confirmed that both counties do not have any zip codes that qualify, and he said the county is bringing up concerns at a meeting between state and county officials Monday.

The HPI is usually calculated using census tracts, but the state used zip codes in this case, so they changed the methodology for determining which areas are eligible. Hoppin said that by using areas that cover a larger population, it could conceal the "disadvantages some neighborhoods experience."

Hoppin said there were census tracts in Watsonville that were in the lowest quartile, but it was not included when the area was expanded to include the full zip code.

Overall, Hoppin says county officials support the overall goal, but unless there are changes, he says they expect there will likely be an impact in the community.

Gov. Gavin Newsom said the state considers 25 factors to determine which of four quartiles a zip code falls into, and the lowest quartile is considered the most impacted. The 400 zip codes are part of the lowest quartile.

See the full list below. Zip codes with a 1 in column B are in the lowest quartile.