The Association of Regional Center Agencies (ARCA) sent advocacy letters to the Vaccine Advisory Council (CVAC) at the state level to try and get the state to expand the definition of health care worker to include Regional Center Service providers and caregivers at home whether paid or unpaid. And guess what? The CVAC has agreed to expand the definition of health care workers as we had hoped! Furthermore, the letters advocated adding an additional category to include people with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities to receive the vaccine as part of Tier 2. The CVAC has not yet made a decision about this. Along with advocating at the state level, we are also part of the effort to advocate at each county public health level to make sure they abide by the expanded definition of health care worker as outlined above and to additionally include Regional Center Quality Assurance staff in this category as they are sometimes required to physically enter congregate settings to do health and safety checks and reviews. We have made contact with all three of our Public Health Departments by phone and email and we are following this up with formal letters that will be sent to each County’s Public Health Officer.
- Santa Barbara County Public Health Department
- Ventura County Public Health Department
- San Luis Obispo County Public Health Department
Read the ARCA vaccine position letters below.