One year ago, Congress defunded public media. Now that we're 100% community funded, please become a sustaining member or increase your existing membership today.
Local Congressman Requests Equitable Distribution Of COVID-19 Vaccine When It Becomes Available
Pharmaceutical companies are being asked to make a plan for equitable distribution of a COVID-19 vaccine, when one is ready.
Blacks, Latinos, and Native Americans are disproportionately impacted by COVID-19 in the U.S., which reflects inequities in access to healthcare. Individuals in those communities are also more likely to work in frontline, essential jobs, thereby increasing their risk of exposure.
At a recent House oversight committee hearing, Congressman Raul Ruiz, who is a physician, requested that drug executives whose companies are developing vaccines also propose a distribution plan.
Ruiz said that a vaccine should first go to the medically vulnerable, frontline healthcare workers, and those communities with the highest transmission and fatality rates, “and not [to] who can pay for it, and giving it to the rich and powerful, or to Fortune 500 companies who want to inoculate in order to keep their employees coming to work and make a profit.”
The congressman, who represents the Palm Desert area, says the distribution of coronavirus tests and personal protective equipment has gone to the highest bidder rather than in accordance with public health needs, and it’s a pattern he does not want to see repeated with a vaccine.
One year ago, Congress voted to defund public media, eliminating a critical $1.7 million from our budget every year going forward. But they couldn’t silence us, and we’re not going anywhere. LAist is now 100% community funded and that means we’re taking our future into our own hands and turning to you to keep local reporting strong.
You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
Senior Vice President News, Editor in Chief
