(Falls Church, VA) – The Center for Equal Opportunity denounces a recommendation by the vaccine advisory committee (committee) of the Oregon Health Authority (OHA) to allow some residents to skip others in line for the COVID-19 vaccine, based solely on the color of their skin. This preferential treatment based on race would be both unconstitutional and simply odious.
On January 14th, the OHA committee recommended prioritizing COVID-19 vaccines for:
“Historically underserved communities of color (especially Black/African American/African Immigrant, Hispanic/Latino/a/x and Pacific Islanders) and Indigenous, Tribal and urban based American Indian/Alaska Natives. In short, the people who experience the impacts of racism and health disparity on a daily basis and are currently experiencing the highest rates of COVID-19 in the state.”
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At a time when our country is dealing with a colorblind pandemic, the OHA should not disregard the constitution, common decency, and its very own nondiscrimination policy which explicitly reads that OHA “cannot treat people unfairly in any of its programs or activities because of a person’s…color, national origin, or race.”
[SOURCE]
The Center for Equal Opportunity calls on the OHA to reject the committee’s recommendation to treat Oregon residents differently based on their race in receiving the potentially lifesaving COVID-19 vaccine.
The Center for Equal Opportunity is a nonprofit, nonpartisan research and educational organization that studies issues relating to race and ethnicity nationwide.
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