Los Angeles County is still having a hard time hitting its targets for vaccinations among minorities and in low-income communities. With that in mind, the county government came up with a plan. In addition to outreach programs designed to convince the hesitant that the vaccine is safe and effective, they set up special pods (Points of Distribution) in those communities. Residents were supposed to be able to access a special code online to obtain one of a limited number of appointments for residents over the age of 65 and healthcare workers. The codes were only made available one day before the pods opened for business. But when people started showing up for their appointments, a curious sight caught the eye of the County Commissioner. Wealthy people from Hollywood and Beverly Hills were standing in line with valid appointments. Needless to say, this didn’t go over very well.
Some people outside of specifically targeted communities for vaccine outreach have been obtaining access codes for vaccination clinics in those neighborhoods.
They were able to essentially jump the line, drawing judgment from L.A. County Supervisor Hilda Solis, who called the behavior “disgusting.”
“I am not surprised. I’m disgusted,” Solis said during a Board of Supervisors discussion of the COVID vaccination effort. “And I’m not disgusted at the work that we’re doing, but I’m more disgusted about the behavior of people in the public that are not being responsible.”
How this happened wasn’t a mystery. As soon as the code was released, it began being spread around on social media and message boards. The rich and famous who had been unable to make an appointment in their own neighborhoods (where demand is much higher) quickly “pounced” on the opportunity and began taking up slots in the targeted communities.
We’re talking about South Central Los Angeles here, where there are significant minority populations, higher crime rates and gang violence. These aren’t the neighborhoods where you normally see the denizens of Beverly Hills going out for a stroll. They obviously had to be pretty desperate for a shot, so they gamed the system. But is that the only factor at play?
First of all, the code system was flawed from the beginning. Everyone using the standard “My Turn” appointment system is required to provide their name and address so they can make an appointment at the center located in their specific location. But these special pods bypassed all of that so anyone who had the code could sign in. Now they’re scrambling to figure out a way to issue individual codes to residents, a plan which sounds overly complicated if they could have just checked the addresses of applicants when they signed up for these closed pods.
Even if the online code plan had been flawless, it’s not clear that the pods wouldn’t have wound up with a lot of leftover doses. While trust in the vaccines in California’s Black population has risen a bit since December, it’s still significantly behind other racial groups. Potentially compounding the problem is the fact that they set up these pods in a way that the only option to make an appointment was online using a code that was only available online. These neighborhoods have some of the lowest rates of reliable internet access. Combine those factors together and you’ve opened the door for people with more reliable web access and social media contacts to take advantage of it.
Since the county is well aware of all the zip codes involved, wouldn’t it be easier to just send out postcards through the mail inviting people to call a number and make an appointment? At least that way they would know they were targeting the intended neighborhoods and find out who was willing to come down for a jab. The bottom line here is that we are once again dealing with a situation where the supply of vaccines isn’t the major hurdle to overcome. It’s government bungling and incompetence.
I say “knock yourself out!!!” Be the first to try an UNTESTED vaccine developed by those who are in favor of population control!!! The media does not n report on all the deaths connected to this vaccine at least 2,000 with the record being just five minutes after being inoculated.
Where are you getting these statistics from. That sounds like a lot of deaths to keep hidden. I would like to see that number before I take the shot.
i took the vaccine and it obviously didn’t kill me ha i received it from the V.A. !
Hey, if you are a marine, you know that facts matter. If you make a statement like this, you need the criteria of where your info is coming from. Then, if the facts line up, you can spread the data. If the facts don’t line up you need to give the correct data. We’re far enough along to know that SOME people have reactions. In many of those cases counterfeit vaccine discovered. It was no fault of the vaccine site, and quite a few were in different countries, but added to the ridiculous mainstream media here at home. I can’t believe you’re brave enough to face the enemy, but are afraid of a vaccine shot? Wow!
OMG, where were you born, in a cave? First of all it has been tested, in fact very well by now. Second there has only been 25 deaths in the whole world from the shots, most because people had food allergies. Get your facts straight before you get on here spreading your low IQ lies.
He is a Marine. What do you expect!
Marine = a person who puts their life on the line to secure your rights. Probably more than you would ever do. Have a little respect for the people who make it possible for you to exercise your right to voice your opinion.
Alison, how do you know he is a Marine anyway?
I would expect respect for someone who defended your right to post your ignorance. Pretty certain the only one you have ever served is yourself.
Wow. What a childish comment. You are one sad puppy. You just posted on the same post. Lol who’s the ignorant one now? Lolol.
I suppose you never even though about serving your country. I may disagree with what our marine said, but I don’t disrespect him for doing something you’ve probably never considered.
Pretty sad
California, the hotbed of “equity” government. But can’t deliver on COVID vaccines.
Moral of the story. Regardless of your opinion of the morality of equal outcomes, you should know that the liberals can’t deliver.
So, the “wealthy” TAX PAYERS and UNITED STATES citizens were caught “jumping” the line ahead of illegal, non-tax paying aliens. Sounds like they were taking appropriate intervention.
Lol. I always love it when someone shoots off his mouth without the real story. It doesn’t matter if they were rich or poor. The real fact is that these ‘elite’ went into a neighborhood that they would never dream of going, to take something that was not rightfully theirs. And don’t talk to me about official appointments. Those people knew they were in the wrong place. And, just FYI, most of those you denigrate, (that means put down), are hard working, tax paying people. They may have a number of them using the same ‘green card’, but that means they pay taxes when they work. So, that part of your argument doesn’t fly. Should they be here? That’s a ?? For wiser heads than you or me. The illegals who cause problems need to be sent home to give their own country grief. That goes for Mexico, Central America, South America, Iran, China, or any other nation, especially if they’re here to kill our freedoms. So Stan, you just might want to do some critical thinking before you post
One upvote for Alison!
And these are the people who endorse socialism. Interesting. So their concept is, socialism is good as long as they benefit. If the aged or poor or downtrodden should benefit then they have no time for that type of socialism. Time to burn down these elites who consider themselves better then the average joe.
No. Violence begets violence. We know they are not smarter than we are. We just have to wake up the silent majority to what’s really happening in our country. Once they are awake, and aware of just how many of our freedoms these people are trying to take away, the ‘woke’, will be ‘woke’, and they won’t be happy about it.
We Americans are pretty spoiled in our freedoms. When we realize what the real story is, no thanks to mainstream media, the ‘steeping Giant’ will arise.
Biden in working together His version is he and his moron thugs working together to take away our rights as citizens These people just do not realize that we will not stand for their garbage We the the people will stand together to stop this low life bunch of criminals that Biden has working for him I see the old bastard is starting that czar bull again That is ok Joe will not succeed in his morbed plan I say Joe remember what happened to France in the revolution We are not Cuba or Venezuela and you Joe are a lying dog faced pony soldier
It’s interesting how the party who’s dedicated to ending white privilege and elitism allow it to occur in areas that they control. It’s almost like they want it to occur so that they’ll continue to have a platform to campaign on.