NPR

People With High-Risk Disabilities Feel Left Out By California's Vaccine System

California moved from a risk-based to an age-based system for the COVID-19 vaccine in January. People with disabilities say that pivot cast them aside and they should have been prioritized.
In January, after opening tiers 1A and 1B, California joined states like Connecticut and Indiana in pivoting from a risk-based strategy to an age-based one.

On a blustery day in Los Angeles, Mimi Newman unlocks her front door to take the dogs outside. For Newman, "outside" is a relative term — she's been in strict quarantine since March 6, 2020. She's only gone past her front gate three times.

Newman is severely immunocompromised. To a small degree, her medical history prepared her for the pandemic.

"I have had periods of my life — years and years and years — where I had

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