House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy led a group of Republican California lawmakers who wrote a letter to Gov. Gavin Newsom demanding an explanation for the state’s “failures” in distributing COVID-19 vaccines.
“The state of California should explain to Californians why the vaccine distribution has had such failures, despite having months to prepare prior to the development of the vaccine,” the group of 11 GOP lawmakers wrote in the letter.
The group, which was also led by Rep. Young Kim, accused the governor of creating “confusion and frustrations” for Californians with the rollout.
“We write to express our serious concerns regarding the State of California’s slow, opaque decision-making process, and ever-changing approach to distributing COVID vaccines, which has been met with confusion and frustration by our constituents, local public health officials, and front-line health care providers,” the letter said.
The letter also pointed to the success of former President Donald Trump’s Operation Warp Speed, saying more of the state’s residents would have died if not for its success.
“With the remarkable success of the federal government’s Operation Warp Speed in producing safe and effective vaccines and therapeutics to aid in the fight against the coronavirus, the State’s vaccine distribution plan must be coherent, efficient, and transparent, otherwise we fear more Californians may die as the result of COVID,” the letter said.
The group pointed to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data from last week that showed California had administered only 5.1 million of the 7.8 million vaccines that have been delivered to the state.
“This means that roughly 35 percent of the total vaccines distributed to the Golden State remain to be administered and places California behind Florida, New York, and Washington State in vaccines administered per capita,” the lawmakers wrote.
At a press conference Tuesday, Newsom said that he was working with the federal government to open two mass vaccination centers in Los Angeles and Oakland that are expected to vaccinate about 6,000 per day.
“We recognize we have more work to do. The issue at the end of the day is supply,” Newsom said. “We need to manufacture more Moderna vaccine, more Pfizer vaccine. We need to get the federal approval of the J&J vaccine. We need to provide ample supply so we can plan, not just two to three weeks out, but over the course of the next few months.”
But the GOP lawmakers blasted Newsom for not publicly releasing the formula his administration uses to determine vaccine allotment, saying it has “made it incredibly difficult for local officials to develop and implement vaccination plans.”
They also criticized the state for technical problems that have slowed vaccine distribution.
“With California being a beacon of technological innovation, this is particularly disconcerting,” the lawmakers wrote.
McCarthy and Kim were joined by Reps. David Valadao, Darrell Issa, Michelle Steel, Mike Garcia, Doug LaMalfa, Devin Nunes, Tom McClintock, Ken Calvert, and Jay Obernolte in signing on to the letter.
