COVID vaccine updates: 10% of California adults fully vaccinated; plan to boost disadvantaged groups
California continues to inch toward 10 million total doses of COVID-19 vaccine administered, as the state’s priority and eligibility rules continue to shift.
The California Department of Public Health on its online vaccine data tracker reported Thursday providers have administered 9,673,787 doses to date.
The total increased by 215,065 compared to Wednesday. CDPH noted Thursday’s total includes some figures missed from Wednesday’s report due to a technical issue.
The numbers from CDPH don’t distinguish between first and second doses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, but the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Thursday that over 6.7 million Californians have received at least one dose, and just over 3 million have had both doses.
That means 22% of the state’s adult population are at least partially vaccinated and 10% of adults are fully vaccinated.
Gov. Gavin Newsom and state health officials announced Thursday morning that California will begin setting aside 40% of its vaccine supply for the lowest quartile of communities within the state’s Healthy Places Index, which measures poverty levels and other factors that impact health care access.
About 1.6 million doses — 17% of the statewide total — have been administered in communities representing the bottom 25% within the HPI index, compared to 34% among residents in the top quartile, state Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly said on a teleconference briefing with reporters Thursday morning.
“Some of the focus on our vaccine equity plan will be to double the vaccine allotment” to the lowest quartile so that vaccination rates are “at least as high in those communities as any other,” he said.
Ghaly acknowledged that targeting scarce vaccine supply to certain communities will mean fewer doses will go to other communities in the short-term. But with the expectation that federally allocated supply will continue to ramp up in the next few weeks and months, Ghaly said the state hopes to “build upon, not in lieu of, our existing efforts.”
CDPH will loosen the thresholds for case metrics, considered within the state’s weekly tier list assignments that govern business, activity and school restrictions, when the state reaches 2 million vaccinations within the bottom quartile and again when the state hits 4 million.
Earlier this week, the single-dose vaccine from Johnson & Johnson earned emergency use authorization by the Food and Drug Administration and was cleared for use in California.
Ghaly said it is possible rollout of the J&J shot may see it used “a little bit differently” at some point — for instance, targeted toward groups who may not be as well-suited to return for a second jab — but for now the goal is to “to make sure it’s available at many of the locations where people are (already) getting vaccinated.”
How many doses have been given across Sacramento area?
These are the totals for combined first and second doses, administered through Wednesday, as reported by the state public health department, by recipient county of residence.
▪ Sacramento: 322,014 (20,537 doses per 100,000 residents)
▪ El Dorado: 47,618 (24,660 doses per 100,000)
▪ Placer: 119,481 (29,838 doses per 100,000)
▪ Yolo: 58,914 (26,347 doses per 100,000)
Yolo County spokeswoman Jenny Tan said Thursday that more than 40,000 Yolo County residents have received at least their first dose.
“This is amazing,” she said. “We are definitely getting it done.”
Information on first vs. second dose breakdowns by residents of other local counties remains limited.
Sacramento-area health offices, public clinics and pharmacies
Most county health offices are splitting their direct allocations between their own county-run clinics, non-chain hospitals and other partners, including some Safeway pharmacies.
CVS, Rite Aid and Walgreens offer vaccine appointments at some of their pharmacies across California, including some in Sacramento, El Dorado and Placer counties, as part of a federal retail pharmacy partnership.
Sacramento
▪ Phase: Partial 1B (adults 65 and older; essential workers in some sectors)
▪ Received directly: Not reported.
▪ Administered: 270,824 to Sacramento County residents through last Friday. Of those, 189,190 were first doses and 81,634 were second doses.
Sacramento County offers drive-thru vaccine clinics at McClellan Park and Natomas High School; and a walk-thru clinics at California Northstate University in Elk Grove.
All require appointments in advance. Scheduling and booking information can be found at dhs.saccounty.net. Residents can sign up online for all except the Natomas High clinic; for that, residents must call 916-561-5253 on Mondays between 8 a.m. and 11 a.m. to make an appointment, according to the county.
The county is also partnered with 11 Safeway pharmacies.
The McClellan Park and Northstate clinics offer the Pfizer vaccine, meaning a three-week wait between doses. Safeway pharmacies offer Moderna, a four-week wait.
Sacramento County also has CVS, Rite Aid and Walgreens stores participating in the federal partnership program.
On Monday, SacRT began offering free rides for COVID-19 vaccination appointments.
El Dorado
▪ Phase: 1B “with an emphasis on residents 75 and older”
▪ Received: 38,390 total doses.
▪ Administered: 45,514 doses as of Tuesday, according to the county website. Remaining doses “are earmarked for already-scheduled clinics and appointments,” the county says. This total exceeds the “received” inventory because it includes retail pharmacies included in the federal partnership, according to county spokeswoman Carla Hass.
The county this week announced new clinics for El Dorado residents ages 65 and older in the parking structure at Red Hawk Casino in Placerville. Those interested must sign up for an appointment in advance using CalVax, the state’s online vaccine registration website.
Walgreens in Cameron Park is also now offering Moderna vaccine appointments as part of the federal retail pharmacy partnership.
More detailed information on county-run and county-partnered vaccine clinics can be found at edcgov.us/Government/hhsa/edccovid-19-clinics.
Placer
▪ Received: Not reported since late January.
▪ Administered: Not reported since late January.
Placer offers most of its county-run clinics at The Grounds, formerly the Placer County Fairgrounds, in Roseville. Appointments are required in advance.
The Grounds clinic is open for Placer County residents ages 65 and older as well as those in Phase 1A and 1B who are employed in Placer County.
Placer is also partnered with eight Safeway pharmacies throughout the county.
According to the CVS website, there are stores participating in the federal vaccine partnership in Auburn and Rocklin. There may also be availability at Rite Aid and Walgreens stores; users should check with individual stores for eligibility, the county says.
Appointments have also been made at Remedy RX Pharmacy in Roseville through a local partnership.
More information on county-run clinics and Safeway partners in Placer is available at placer.ca.gov/vaccineclinics.
Yolo
▪ Received: At least 15,800 total doses, last updated Feb. 11.
▪ Administered: 12,700 first doses and 8,209 second doses through Feb. 26 according to Tan, the county spokeswoman.
Yolo has private clinics planned this week for teachers, child care workers, law enforcement and food and agriculture workers, with public clinics set for this coming weekend, according to the county website.
The county says one private clinic, for food workers and seniors, on Friday may open up to the public depending on availability, and asks interested residents to check the county website frequently for possible updates.
A public clinic for Phase 1A and Phase 1B residents on Saturday and another on Sunday for child care workers are each fully booked.
More details regarding county-run clinics are available on the county website at yolocounty.org.
Hospital systems
Hospital systems operating in multiple counties receive their own allocations from the state.
Sutter Health has paused first-dose appointments and may need to cancel as many as 90,000 upcoming second-dose appointments across the Northern California health system, citing “extremely limited supply.”
The provider opened appointments to its patients ages 65 and older for about a week in early February before supply issues forced new appointments to be suspended.
Kaiser Permanente is now vaccinating patients 65 and older after earlier lack of supply had kept appointments limited to those 75 and older for the first several weeks of the rollout.
In an update this week, Kaiser Permanente said it has administered about 520,000 of the 602,000 doses it has received at Northern California facilities, and has more than 230,000 future appointments scheduled.
UC Davis Health last week began vaccinating “patients who work in education and childcare, emergency services, and food and agriculture” in line with the state’s Phase 1B guidelines.
Dignity Health’s Mercy Medical Group says it has vaccinated at least 9,375 patients to date and projects it can vaccinate 18,300 more by March 14, supply pending.
“We are working on a plan for outreach to our patients with medical conditions qualifying them for vaccine in mid-March,” the provider says on its website.
