Bay Area Counties to Receive $7.6 Million From the State for Vaccine Distribution

The Bay Area will receive $7.6 million from the state for vaccine distribution, weeks after a group of lawmakers from the region expressed concerns about California’s latest equity plan.

Earlier this month, 20 lawmakers from the Bay Area sent a letter to Gov. Gavin Newsom's office, arguing that the region wasn't adequately prioritized in the state's equity plan, which allocated 40% of vaccine doses to 400 low-income ZIP codes across the state.

State Sen. Dave Cortese, D-San Jose, said on Wednesday that the state's original plan left out all of Santa Clara County, along with other hard-hit areas like East Palo Alto and San Francisco's Mission District.

The distribution of the new funding will be based on population, Cortese said. Santa Clara, Contra Costa and Alameda counties will receive $1.5 million each, San Francisco and San Mateo will each receive $750,000, and Marin, Napa, Solano and Sonoma counties will each receive $400,000. Cortese said the money will be used for equity outreach.

“It’s really targeted at the disproportionate representation, particularly among Latinx and the Black community, which are overrepresented in hospitalizations and COVID-19 transmissions and underrepresented in vaccination rate right now," he said.

Cortese said he anticipates even more resources to be allocated for harder-hit communities in the coming week.

— Keith Mizuguchi