I read this piece in the Los Angeles Times with a mixture of chagrin and smug satisfaction:
A California program intended to improve COVID-19 vaccine availability to people in hard-hit communities of color is being misused by outsiders who are grabbing appointments reserved for residents of underserved Black and Latino areas.
The program to address inequities in vaccine distribution relies on special access codes that enable people to make appointments on the My Turn vaccine scheduling website. The codes are provided to community organizations to distribute to people in largely Black and Latino communities.
But those codes have also been circulating, in group texts and messages, among the wealthier, work-from-home set in Los Angeles, The Times has learned. Many of those people are not yet eligible for the vaccine under state rules.
Some people able to make appointments have been driving to Cal State Los Angeles to get the shots.
Very nearly every abuse of the systems set up to inoculate people that I predicted back in December have actually come to pass.
On a more personal note my wife has received both her first and second inoculations as an esssential workers. I’m still trying to get an appointment. Although I’m qualified due to my age supply issues are preventing my getting my first inoculation. Now that my wife’s been inoculated I’m in less of a hurry than might otherwise be the case. I check on a daily basis to see if there’s any change. I’ll get inoculated when I can.
“….is being misused by outsiders who are grabbing appointments reserved for residents of underserved Black and Latino areas.”
Well blow me over…….