As many communities push to get more COVID-19 vaccines in the arms of residents, a new report Wednesday revealed some in the Bay Area may be booking their vaccination appointments dishonestly.
According to a report from SF Gate, citing a source, some residents in Marin County may be manipulating the system by using codes meant for communities disproportionately hit by COVID-19 to secure a vaccination appointment.
The North Bay residents, according to the report, are sharing codes used to represent those living in Black and Latino communities to secure appointments at the Oakland Coliseum mass vaccination hub via the state’s MyTurn portal. The report goes on to explain that those using the codes are not part of the communities the Coliseum site is intended to serve.
The codes are intended for Black and brown communities that have seen significantly higher cases of COVID-19. According to the Alameda County Department of Health, just under 32,000 of its virus cases identified as Hispanic or Latino, compared with around 10,000 cases that identified as white.
The Los Angeles Times reported Monday that a similar scam was happening in Southern California, where wealthy residents were inadvertently gaming the MyTurn system using the same tactics with access codes for vaccine appointments at the California State University Los Angeles vaccination site.
As of Wednesday morning, it was unclear if any investigation is underway for breaches in the MyTurn system.
Source: NBC Bay Area
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