Oakland Vice Mayor Rebecca Kaplan Together with Councilmember Treva Reid, Call for COVID-19 Vaccines to Be Made Equitably Available for Our Community
Oakland – Tomorrow, February 2, 2021, Vice Mayor Rebecca Kaplan, along with Councilmember Treva Reid, will be introducing an urgent resolution asking the Oakland City Council to urge the state and federal governments to address the lack of equitable distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, by supporting, with COVID vaccines and funds, the implementation of the plan to open the Oakland Coliseum as a site for large-scale vaccinations, and to distribute them effectively and equitably, including to under-served communities. [ LINK TO AGENDA ITEM]
Kaplan and Reid, along with their colleagues on the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Authority (“OACCA”), took action at their first meeting of the year, January 15, 2021, to approve the creation of a taskforce to make the Coliseum a large-scale vaccination site. The Oakland Coliseum site would improve the equitable distribution of the COVID vaccines in Alameda County. The site is located at the center of the neighborhoods with the highest COVID positive rates, making it accessible for the most affected communities. Kaplan and the Coliseum Authority have been working with stakeholders, including the A’s and Alameda County Public Health to get more of the local community vaccinated at a more rapid rate. The coliseum site is also located within the highest concentration of communities of concern, see attached map.
MTC Communities of Concern map:
Large scale vaccination sites have been implemented and pursued by other California cities and other states. Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles and Petco Park in San Diego are both mass vaccination sites that are functioning with state support. Both nationwide and within California, there has been inequity in who is actually receiving the vaccine. Data shows that the shares of vaccinations among Black and Hispanic people are lower compared to their shares of the total population. In contrast, the share of vaccinations among white people is higher than their share of the total population in most states.
Kaplan stated, “We need to ensure that the communities that are the most impacted are included in prioritization for receiving the vaccine. We call upon the State and Federal government to support expedited and equitable vaccine distribution, including through the use of the Oakland Coliseum site. We must not allow people that have the most means to travel, or those with the best internet access, to take up all of the appointments – which we have seen happen in other areas.”
Tomorrow’s resolution comes at an ideal time. This morning, the spokesperson for the Biden Administration’s COVID-19 task force publicly stated that the Biden Administration will take immediate action to remedy the documented racial inequities in the distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine. President Biden has issued an executive order to advance racial equity and support for underserved communities.
This item is on the Tuesday, February 2, 2021, at 1:30pm Council meeting on zoom.
It is item number S2.15: More COVID Vaccine For Oakland, on the agenda
Zoom Meeting information:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82252209901
Webinar ID: 822 5220 9901
2/2 Oakland City Council Meeting Agenda:
https://oakland.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=A&ID=833994&GUID=69353623-ACF6-4536-B943-4F7A0A939287