Monterey County Vaccine regional data raises concern over vaccine allocation
MONTEREY COUNTY, Calif. (KION) -- Monterey County released data on the county's vaccine allocation and administration. Social Media users shared their concern on the disparity of vaccinations administered by regions.
The county data shows that 9% of North County is vaccinated and makes up 12% of the population. Peninsula and Big Sur have 46% vaccinated and makeup 31% of the population. Salinas has 35% vaccinated and makes up 38% of the population. South County only has 11% vaccinated and they make up 18% of the population.
Monterey County Supervisor Luis Alejo said his idea on this data is part of a larger conversation statewide on addressing the issue of inequity.
“I thought that the data will help us see where the needs are and create strategies and implement them,” said Alejo. “So that we are making sure that the limited vaccines that we have are going to the people hardest hit by this covid pandemic. The early numbers that we have really show that we have some work to do.”
The data released is on phase 1B, 65 and older and essential workers not phase 1a. In today’s meeting. Health Officer Dr. Edward Moreno said there are disparities seen in the 65 and up the group.
“We do see that there are a greater proportion of individuals in certain peninsula communities who are overrepresented among those getting vaccinated,” said Dr. Moreno. “And we do see that there are some individuals in south county and salinas who are underrepresented."
The data on race and ethnicity shows that among those 65 and older who have been vaccinated, populations such as Latinos are underrepresented. They are trying to get vaccines to those who are administering the vaccines to people who have been hit the hardest by the Covid-19. This includes the older population but also Latinos and farmworkers.
“So that we can get the vaccine to them and they make phone calls and get people in to get vaccinated,” said Dr. Moreno. “So hopefully we can try to work towards a little more equity in the distribution or administration of vaccines here in Monterey County.”
Supervisor Alejo also said he hopes his initial request on data broken down by zip code, will become available to make sure vaccinations are administered in zip codes with higher cases of infection, hospitalization, and death.
