The claim: California is vaccinating homeless people and prison inmates against COVID-19 before others
Shifting plans for distributing COVID-19 vaccines are drawing out new criticism for plans to administer the shots.
In a Facebook post on March 1, comedian and podcaster Adam Carolla took aim at the state of California. “In California the homeless and prisoners are getting the vaccine before taxpayers,” he wrote in the post that about 12,000 users have reacted to. “It sounds like something out of Idiocracy. If that isn’t the most California way of doing things I don’t know what is.”
Advocates have fought for those populations to be prioritized because they live in close quarters, such as homeless shelters, and cannot easily maintain social distance.
How to persuade someone to take the COVID-19 vaccine Alia E. Dastagir, USA TODAY
President-elect Joe Biden receives COVID-19 vaccine, urges Americans to do the same
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The vaccines are coming. Now, how many Americans will actually get them?
It s a looming question, perhaps the most important one as the coronavirus continues to surge in the U.S. Medical experts say vaccine-induced herd immunity when enough people are immune that the virus will find it difficult to spread is the best way to end the pandemic.
Overall, 60% of Americans say they would definitely or probably get the vaccine if one were available today, according to a Pew Research Center survey this month, up from 51% who said so in September. Nearly 40% said they definitely or probably would not get a coronavirus vaccine, though about half of this group – about 18% of U.S. adults – say they could change their minds.
How will you be told when it s your turn for a COVID-19 vaccine? It s complicated Ryan W. Miller, USA TODAY
President-elect Joe Biden receives COVID-19 vaccine, urges Americans to do the same
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Will you get a text from your doctor? Will you read about it online? Or will you have to check the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website to know when it s your turn in line?
As COVID-19 vaccines roll out to limited groups of people across the United States, how people learn they are eligible to get their shots won t be as clear while supplies remain limited, according to public health and policy experts and state vaccination plans.
The federal government is close to delivering 20 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine during the month of December, as promised, but states are taking longer than expected to get those doses into people s arms, officials admitted Wednesday.
About 15.5 million doses will be delivered by the end of the year, with the remaining 5 million arriving between Jan. 4-6, said Gen. Gus Perna, who co-leads Operation Warp Speed, the federal effort to develop and distribute COVID-19 vaccines, treatments and tests.
But only about 1 million of the 9 million doses distributed so far have been reported administered, his co-lead Moncef Slaoui confirmed during a news conference.