January 22, 2021 — The progress of the vaccine rollout has been one of confusion, changing directives, vaccine hesitancy, conspiracy theories, and a mad rush for available shots, followed by resentment on the part of those who thought they might have had a chance, if they’d been looking at the right Facebook page at the right moment, or if they were on the right mailing list or if they worked for a large well-orgainzed employer like a school district.
This was compounded last week, just as Mendocino County was moving into phase 1B, which includes workers in emergency services, education, and food and ag. It also includes older adults. On Wednesday, 1200 people, including hundreds of senior citizens, lined up in the rain at the fairgrounds in Ukiah to get their first shot. The same day, Governor Gavin Newsom dropped the high-priority age from 75 to 65, and said the elderly would be moved to the head of the line. The first allocations that counties received, to vaccinate healthcare workers, were based on an estimate of how many healthcare workers there were. According to last year’s demographic data from Healthy Mendocino, there are 19,656 people in the county over the age of 65. Another 38,608 people are under 18. That leaves just over 49,000 adults who will need to be vaccinated, plus people 16 and older with health conditions who will get their shot in phase 1C.
I asked Assemblymember Jim Wood if he could clarify a few things from his perspective at the state level.
