Imperial County requests more vaccine doses
IMPERIAL COUNTY, Calif. (KYMA, KECY) - Imperial County mayors join the chairman of the County Board of Supervisors to request the state to boost COVID-19 vaccines to 8,000 doses a week.
In a letter sent to California Governor Gavin Newsom last week, it points out the geographic aspects that make Imperial County unique.
“In a county with historically the highest unemployment rate in California, the loss of jobs is devastating,” and vaccines are necessary “to have any chance of restoring our shattered economy and getting people back to work. When evaluating our allocation augmentation request, we request that the State take into consideration that Imperial County is the only California county that borders both another country (Mexico) and another state (Arizona), which themselves have extraordinarily high positivity rates.”
The letter points out that while the population in Imperial County is high, an estimated 122,000 U.S. citizens live in Baja California who are eligible to cross for the vaccine. As well as California residents living in Arizona.
Adding the pandemic has made a disproportionate impact on Imperial County.
The note finally addresses how the pandemic has underscored the existing health inequities within the county, including lack of access to health care, poverty, food insecurities, and a higher rate of underlying health conditions, including asthma and diabetes, and obesity.
