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Former CDPH official urges board to stop promoting COVID‑19 vaccines, citing VAERS data
Summary
A public commenter, Ronald F. Owens Jr., a former California Department of Public Health public information officer, told the board he believes COVID‑19 vaccines are causing disproportionate harm to people of color and urged the county to discontinue vaccine promotion and distribution; no county response was recorded in the meeting.
During the public-comment portion of the meeting, Ronald F. Owens Jr. identified himself as a former public information officer at the California Department of Public Health and urged the board to stop promoting, administering and distributing COVID‑19 vaccines.
Owens told the board he had shared VAERS (Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System) data with his former superiors and with dozens of county boards and asserted the vaccines were "killing people of color" at higher rates than white Americans—an assertion he attributed to a quote he said appears on the White House’s official YouTube channel and to comments by HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra. Owens said he had distributed the materials to "358 recipients" and cited California Health and Safety Code section 101025 in urging the board to protect public health.
The board did not record a staff response in the public transcript. Owens’ statements represent his assertions and references to VAERS data and public statements; they were not substantiated or disputed on the record during the meeting.
