Watch: Gavin Newsom gives COVID-19 vaccine update as tier criteria changes

California Gov. Gavin Newsom gave a COVID-19 vaccine update at press conference in San Joaquin County Thursday.

You can watch a replay here:

Newsom was slated to discuss his administration’s new plan to ensure vaccines reach California’s most disadvantaged communities.

Administration officials announced Wednesday evening that the state would target 40% of vaccine doses to those communities. Once 2 million people have been vaccinated in those areas, the California Department of Public Health will make it easier for counties to move from the most restrictive purple tier into the less restrictive red tier by increasing the number of daily new cases allowed from 7 to 10 per 100,000 residents.

The new guidelines define the state’s most disadvantaged ZIP codes as those falling in the bottom quartile of the “Healthy Places Index,” a measure of poverty and other factors including residents’ housing status and education level.

The state has already vaccinated about 1.6 million people in those communities, and officials expect they will reach the 2 million threshold in one or two weeks, Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly told reporters Thursday morning.

The move will be significant for the state’s economy because the color-coded tier system determines what types of businesses can be open and what restrictions they must follow.

It also determines school reopenings. Under a new school reopening plan that Gov. Gavin Newsom and lawmakers plan to enact this week, schools in the red tier will be required to open for elementary grades at at least one middle or high school grade by April 1 in order to receive their full share of state incentive funding.