Vaccine updates: ‘Pent-up demand’ in Sacramento as doses open to 16-and-older, official says

California providers opened eligibility for the COVID-19 vaccine to all ages 16 and older on Thursday.

But limited supply allocations plus the continuing pause of the Johnson & Johnson single-dose vaccine may keep appointments relatively scarce in Sacramento, at least in the short term.

Sacramento County officials on Thursday said the local health office and its partners will receive about 22,000 doses next week — up from about 20,000 this week, but fewer than the 30,000-plus delivered last week — that will be split roughly evenly between Pfizer and Moderna doses. No J&J shots will ship to California.

“We are aware there is a pent-up demand for vaccine,” county health officer Dr. Olivia Kasirye said. “We will continue to work with the doses we have and get them out as soon as we get them. Whenever we do publish additional appointment information, those (slots) are grabbed up very quickly.”

Kasirye said in a Thursday morning call with reporters that it was still a bit too early to tell how smoothly the first day of 16-plus eligibility was going in Sacramento, but that the county should have a clearer picture in the next few days.

Find a COVID vaccine appointment — and see how many people in California are vaccinated

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention along with the Food and Drug Administration early Tuesday recommended a pause on the use of the J&J vaccine while the agencies investigate a rare but severe blood clotting condition that developed in six recipients.

The CDC convened an advisory meeting Wednesday, but the panel said it wanted to investigate further before advising the pause to be lifted. A decision may not come for another seven to 10 days, The New York Times, Associated Press and other outlets reported after Wednesday’s meeting.

Gov. Gavin Newsom and the state health department — which followed the federal recommendation and told providers to stop giving the shots — maintain that the J&J pause will have minimal impact in the long term, noting that the manufacturer made up only 4% of this week’s federal allocation. The Newsom administration also says the pause won’t impact the state’s ability to reopen the economy on its target date of June 15.

But the J&J shot had been used by county health offices in the capital region largely to vaccinate underserved groups and transient populations that are more difficult to reach twice, such as the homeless, which may elevate some equity concerns.

Kasirye said some providers targeting homeless populations have already switched to Moderna. She said the county and partnering providers are working out details on plans to incentivize homeless populations to return for a second dose.

County spokeswoman Janna Haynes says the county recently surpassed the milestone of administering vaccines to 1,000 unhoused residents.

Some health experts nationwide have aired concern that the J&J pause may have the side effect of creating further hesitancy for Americans who may have been on the fence about the vaccine.

“What’s really important to stress is the fact that the system is working in terms of being able to report any adverse events and having the federal government review those cases, and also review to make sure that the vaccine you’re using is safe, or if there are any adjustments we need to make in terms of who gets that vaccine or what providers need to look out for,” Kasirye said Thursday.

She also said it is important to keep the numbers in perspective: six cases including one fatality are being investigated out of nearly 7 million J&J doses administered nationwide.

While Johnson & Johnson is on pause, local clinics are making quick pivots.

A clinic Tuesday at Luther Burbank High School, intended to give 4,000 J&J doses in a disadvantaged south Sacramento ZIP code, had to make a late swap to first-dose Pfizer doses. Other community-partnered clinics also swapped for Pfizer or Moderna on short notice. The drive-through site at Cal Expo had to cancel 800 total appointments for J&J between Tuesday and Wednesday, county officials said.

County Vaccine Program Coordinator Rachel Allen said some county-partnered sites “have chosen to hold off” switching clinics in the planning stages for next week from J&J to Pfizer or Moderna, “and are hoping to still use Johnson & Johnson” if the pause ends in the next few days.

Sacramento County trails California’s overall vaccination rate per capita in residents, but health officials Thursday morning said there are a few factors that can explain the discrepancy.

County Epidemiology Program Manager Jamie White said that during the bulk of the rollout so far, in which eligibility depended largely on occupation, the Cal Expo vaccination site saw many recipients who work in Sacramento County but live in outlying counties. Program coordinator Hannah Aalborg said the out-of-county rate at Cal Expo was about 20% from January through March.

California vaccination by the numbers

California providers have administered at least 24,163,906 doses of COVID-19 vaccines, the California Department of Public Health said in a Thursday update.

More than 9.53 million are fully vaccinated, and another 6.36 million are partially vaccinated. That means nearly 16 million Californians are at least partially vaccinated, which is close to 40% of the state’s total population and more than half its adult population.

The state has injected 79% of the 30.5 million doses delivered by manufacturers.

Next week, California is scheduled to receive more than 2 million total first and second doses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, according to CDC allocation data. The state got about 1.9 million this week, including 67,000 of the now-paused Johnson & Johnson shots.

How many are fully, partially vaccinated in 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: 850,043 (54,213 doses per 100,000 residents)

▪ El Dorado: 110,376 (57,161 doses per 100,000)

▪ Placer: 254,544 (63,567 doses per 100,000)

▪ Yolo: 146,107 (65,340 doses per 100,000)

Here is what percentage of each county’s total population is fully and partially vaccinated, according to CDPH data.

Figures may be undercounts due to data reporting delays.

Northern California VA locations giving vaccines

Veterans Affairs Northern California Health Care is now offering COVID-19 vaccinations to veterans and their families at 11 clinic locations: Auburn, Chico, Fairfield, Mare Island, Martinez, Mather, McClellan, Oakland, Redding, Yreka and Yuba City.

As of this week, all of the above except Martinez and Yreka are offering walk-in clinics with no appointment necessary. Starting next week, the Martinez VA clinic will expand to walk-ins.

Clinic days and times vary by location. More details are available at northerncalifornia.va.gov.

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 as part of a federal retail pharmacy partnership. Sam’s Club and Walmart stores also recently began offering vaccines in some parts of California. More details are available via those companies’ websites.

Sacramento

Sacramento County continues to offer drive-thru vaccine clinics at Cal Expo, McClellan Park and Natomas High School; and walk-thru clinics at California Northstate University in Elk Grove and at Sacramento State.

Other first-dose clinics run through community partners have been announced at Bayside Church in midtown and Orange Grove School. Both will give Pfizer first doses.

Most clinics continue to require appointments in advance. Scheduling and booking information can be found at dhs.saccounty.net.

Sacramento also has CVS, Rite Aid and Walgreens stores participating in the federal partnership program, and the county is also partnered with 11 Safeway pharmacies.

The McClellan Park, Sacramento State and Northstate clinics offer the Pfizer vaccine, meaning a three-week wait between doses. Safeway pharmacies offer Moderna, a four-week wait.

With eligibility expanding, Sacramento County reminds that only the Pfizer vaccine is approved for minors ages 16 and 17.

El Dorado

El Dorado runs clinics at its public health offices in Placerville and South Lake Tahoe.

The county’s South Lake Tahoe clinic will give shots every Monday, Thursday and Friday now through the end of April, with the exception of Monday, April 19. Appointments are available through CalVax, at calvax.org.

The county also offers a clinic at the parking structure at Red Hawk Casino in Placerville on Thursdays, also available through CalVax. It will run each Thursday through at least April 29. The clinic on Tuesday announced more first-dose slots added to this Thursday’s clinic and more second-dose shots added for next week.

The Red Hawk and Placerville public health office clinics gives Pfizer shots. The South Lake Tahoe clinic uses Moderna.

Walgreens in Cameron Park and the CVS store on Palmer Drive in Cameron Park are also now offering Moderna vaccine appointments as part of the federal retail pharmacy partnership. Walmart in Placerville was offering J&J doses prior to the pause.

The county is also partnered with six Safeway stores.

More detailed information on county-run and county-partnered vaccine clinics can be found at edcgov.us/Government/hhsa/edccovid-19-clinics.

Placer

Placer County this week opened eligibility to those ages 16 and older who live or work in the county, a few days ahead of California’s deadline to do so.

Placer offers its county-run clinics at The Grounds, formerly the Placer County Fairgrounds, in Roseville. Pfizer first-dose clinics this Tuesday through Thursday are full. Details for a clinic Friday have not yet been released.

Appointment links for qualifying residents are posted as they become available at placer.ca.gov/vaccineclinics.

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 can also be made at Remedy RX Pharmacy in Roseville through a local partnership.

Yolo

Yolo County has public first-dose clinics planned Thursday in West Sacramento and Friday in Davis. Appointments are booked through MyTurn.

Friday’s Davis clinic will be the only one offering Pfizer doses, meaning it is the only county clinic for those ages 16 and 17, while the other two use Moderna.

Yolo plans private first-dose clinics this weekend in Esparto and Madison.

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. All in the Sacramento area confirm they are offering vaccine appointments to all ages 16 and older.

UC Davis Health is using the state’s My Turn website as well as its MyUCDavisHealth app to schedule vaccination appointments.

UC Davis in an update to its website Tuesday confirmed it has paused giving J&J doses, which had made up about 10% of its vaccinations, and said it does “not expect this will impact our ability to vaccinate thousands of people each day.

Sutter Health also confirms on its patient website that it has paused appointments for the J&J vaccine. The hospital network is opening first-dose appointments for Pfizer and Moderna “as supply allows.”

Sutter on its patient website says it has administered more than 525,000 doses to date.

Kaiser Permanente is vaccinating patients in eligible groups, regardless of Kaiser membership.

Kaiser Permanente said in a Tuesday update it has administered about 1.56 million of the 1.66 million doses it has received at Northern California facilities, and has about 370,000 future appointments scheduled.

Dignity Health’s Mercy Medical Group has begun using My Turn to schedule appointments, and is working with the state and other partners to offer vaccines to eligible Californians.