I'm a type 1 diabetic, and I have been for over half of my life. It's an immune depressing disease that attacks the pancreas and prevents the body from producing insulin, the necessary hormone, to break down food nutrients and carbohydrates in the body. Diabetics are a very high-risk group when it comes to COVID. We are much more likely to face severe complications because of the way the coronavirus attacks the immune system. 

Governor Gavin Newsom has excluded type 1 diabetics from the current phase of the vaccine rollout – leaving some of the most at-risk people vulnerable. Please sign to tell Gov. Newsom to listen to the science and make the COVID vaccine available to people with type 1 diabetes. 

A recent study found that the risk of dying from COVID-19 was almost three times higher for people with type 1 diabetes and almost twice as high for type 2 than for those without diabetes. The diabetic community is also at higher risk of severe illness and hospitalization. 

The medical community has urged the CDC to update their guidance to recognize type 1 diabetes in the same risk category as type 2. They know that the risk level is just as high for type 1 diabetics if they get COVID, but they have not answered those calls. 

Gov. Newsom: Please listen to the science. This community is at risk. If you allow all diabetics to get a vaccine, you will save lives.