Placer County teachers eligible to receive COVID vaccine. But when will they receive shots?

Placer County teachers were among the first in the region to be eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, with appointments at the county’s vaccination clinic opening to educators and first responders late last week.

But there’s no telling when they’ll actually be able to get it since appointments at the county’s clinic are already full this week.

While Placer County is ranked fourth among California’s 58 counties in terms of the shots administered per capita, The Sacramento Bee calculated using CDPH data, it still isn’t able to keep up with demand.

Last week, Dr. Rob Oldham, the county’s director of health and human services and interim health officer, told the Board of Supervisors that Placer County has the capability to ramp up vaccinations by 20,000 to 25,000 people per week, but can’t make that a reality without increased vaccine shipments. As of last week, the county received an average of 4,300 doses per week.

“So for Placer, the biggest challenge with this move, again, has been that it has expanded the pool of eligible resident to over 80,000 people even though the weekly dose allocation Placer has received from the state have remained flat or even dropped,” Oldham said at a Board of Supervisors meeting last week. “So at this rate, we will have nowhere near enough vaccine to finish this priority group anytime soon.”

Despite not having enough vaccine for its 80,000 eligible residents, Placer has managed to vaccinate more than 7,400 residents per week through partnerships with Safeway and the region’s hospitals, Oldham said.

Placer was also the only county in the immediate capital region above the statewide rate of 7,210 doses per 100,000 residents. Yolo County was 3% below the state average, El Dorado County 16% below and Sacramento County 18% under it.

Placer County teachers, along with other eligible residents, can view available appointments by visiting the county’s website weekly. The availability of appointments vary according to the amount of vaccines received, the county said, and appointments are usually posted late in the week.

Placer, Nevada and El Dorado County teachers are some of the first in Northern California to be eligible to receive the vaccine. Sacramento and Yolo Counties said this week they’re not yet ready to start administering the vaccine to educators.