Advocacy to Ensure Vaccine Allocation Plans Center Equity

 From Justice In Aging

As the country awaits the FDA’s approval of the first COVID-19 vaccine, states are releasing their vaccine allocation plans. The CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices has recommended that residents of congregate settings be included in the first phase of distribution, along with medical workers.  

This week, Justice in Aging led an advocates' letter to the California Community Vaccine Advisory Committee Chairs asking them to prioritize older adults and people with disabilities in the state’s COVID-19 vaccine allocation and distribution plan. The letter asks the Board to define “congregate settings” broadly to include residents and staff of nursing facilities, assisted living facilities, affordable senior housing residences, group homes, mental health residential facilities, and jails and prisons, and to elevate the priority of facilities with Black and Latinx residents. Other priorities include defining high-risk older adults and people with disabilities living in the community as individuals who use home and community-based services; conducting targeted outreach to older adults and people with disabilities that is culturally relevant and recognizes the intersectionality of their lived experiences; and collecting and releasing intersectional data. 

Read more about how to advocate for vaccine allocation and distribution plans that center equity and the intersectional needs of older adults in Justice in Aging’s new blog.