Your guide to California policy and politics by
Emily Hoeven
Presented by California Biotechnology Foundation
Good morning, California. It’s Thursday, January 21.
Coming sooner than expected
This week, Gov. Gavin Newsom will unveil a pilot program to help counties, cities and other entities schedule vaccine appointments, I’ve exclusively learned.
Newsom had previously disclosed plans to unveil a vaccine eligibility notification system this week, with the appointment system to follow in “a second phase.” But the governor will now launch both this week, Darrel Ng, senior communications adviser for the state’s COVID-19 vaccine task force, told me Wednesday. Counties, cities and other entities — such as mass vaccination sites — can choose whether to use the pilot appointment program. The appointments will be open only to eligible Californians and are dependent on the number of available doses.
Pan: We “found no scientific basis to continue the pause. … These findings should continue to give Californians confidence that vaccines are safe and effective.”
Nevertheless, challenges remain. Pan said Wednesday it could take the state four to five months just to administer two doses of vaccine to Californians in the 65-and-older category. As of Tuesday, California had administered 37% of its 4.1 million doses. Only seven states have administered fewer doses per capita, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The state’s biggest hurdle, Pan said, is an inconsistent and scarce vaccine supply coming from the federal government — though officials hope that will change with the newly inaugurated Biden administration.
Ngtold me: “The goal would be to have a predictable and high number of shots … because if you can tell us what it’ll be, we can plan for it.”
Have you had difficulty trying to get the COVID-19 vaccine? Tell us here.
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The coronavirus bottom line: As of Wednesday, California had 3,019,371 confirmed cases (+0.7% from previous day) and 34,433 deaths (+2.1% from previous day), according to a CalMatters tracker.
Hours after Kamala Harris was inaugurated Wednesday as vice president of the United States, she swore in Alex Padilla as her replacement in the U.S. Senate. But they weren’t the only Californians to make history. Amanda Gorman, a 22-year-old from Los Angeles, stole the show as the youngest inaugural poet in U.S. history. Gorman, who recently graduated from Harvard, was named Los Angeles’ youth poet laureate in 2014 and the first national youth poet laureate in 2017. She was chosen to perform at the inauguration after First Lady Jill Biden heard Gorman give a reading at the Library of Congress. Like President Joe Biden, Gorman struggles with a speech impediment. “It’s made me the performer that I am,” she told the Los Angeles Times. “When you have to teach yourself how to say sounds … it gives you a certain awareness of sonics, of the auditory experience.”
Here’s an excerpt from her inaugural poem, “The Hill We Climb,” which you can watch her perform here:
And yes we are far from polished far from pristine but that doesn’t mean we are striving to form a union that is perfect We are striving to forge a union with purpose To compose a country committed to all cultures, colors, characters and conditions of man And so we lift our gazes not to what stands between us but what stands before us
2.Senate Republicans oust leader
California Senate Republicans spent Inauguration Day carrying out their own peaceful transition of power, voting unanimously for Scott Wilk of Santa Clarita to replace Shannon Grove of Bakersfield as their caucus’s leader.
Pressure has been building for Grove to step aside ever since the November election, CalMatters’ Ben Christopher writes. Although Republicans gained seats in the state Assembly and the U.S. House of Representatives, the GOP’s Senate caucus was reduced from 11 to nine after two incumbents were booted from the job in increasingly purple Orange County.
Wilk, the new leader, is among the most moderate Republicans in the Senate and occasionally votes across the aisle — signaling a potential shift in the caucus’s stance as the Legislature heads into a new session.
3.More California kids getting COVID
As California continues to experience a coronavirus surge — the state this week became the first to surpass 3 million cases — more children are testing positive, more are experiencing serious symptoms, and more are being diagnosed with a rare inflammatory syndrome, CalMatters’ Elizabeth Aguilera reports. Experts say these trends could potentially accelerate due to two new strains of the virus that appear to be more contagious.
Dr. Erica Lawson of UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital San Francisco: “We are seeing more kids on the far end of the curve, who are sick enough to be admitted … because of the higher numbers in the community. … The more cases you have, the more severe cases you will have.”
Latino children appear to be especially at risk. They make up 64% of coronavirus cases among California kids under 18 where race and ethnicity is known, despite making up only 48% of the state’s children. And nationwide, more than 70% of inflammatory syndrome cases have occurred in Latino or Black children.
CalMatters commentary
CalMatters columnist Dan Walters: California has one of the nation’s lowest rates of vaccine utilization — and lives will be lost because of it.
Newport Beach isn’t housing-averse: The city can hardly be faulted for lower housing stock when a state agency struck down approval of 1,375 units, argues Mayor Brad Avery.
Time to reimagine youth justice: The Division of Juvenile Justice with its long history of abuse and violence will soon be gone, paving the way for a new regional approach, writes Allison Magee of the Zellerbach Family Foundation.