Contra Costa County is planning to expand coronavirus vaccine eligibility this week to *everyone* 16 and older who lives or works in the county.
It does seem clear, despite repeated deferring to the state, that county health departments can expand eligibility at own discretion.
It does seem clear, despite repeated deferring to the state, that county health departments can expand eligibility at own discretion.
For months now there's been a lot of confusion how much wider counties could expand eligibility beyond what the state allowed for.
Most of the time when we asked if a group/category could be prioritized, our DPH said they couldn't because of the state.
Most of the time when we asked if a group/category could be prioritized, our DPH said they couldn't because of the state.
Now some counties are able to apparently open it to anyone immediately. So it does seem that at least as things stand now, counties can make their own decisions on this for the next few weeks before the expansion to all adults on April 15.
It's very possible that DPH legitimately believed they were unable to make their own eligibility decisions. They also potentially didn't want to. Or things for some reason recently may have changed. But the decisionmaking chain in all of this is still incredibly opaque.
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