COVID vaccine updates: Supply issues pop up even as California’s overall pace improves
California is about nine weeks into the mass vaccination campaign to combat the coronavirus pandemic and officials say that while the pace is improving, supply uncertainty remains the main obstacle.
The California Department of Public Health on its vaccine tracker reported Wednesday providers have administered 6,435,184 of the 8.4 million doses distributed to hospital systems and health offices, an increase of 172,403 doses. From Friday through Tuesday, the state reported administering an average of about 188,000 shots per day.
The state public health numbers don’t distinguish between first and second doses. According to vaccination data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, close to 4.8 million people have received at least one dose in California, which means about 12% of the state’s 40 million residents are at least partially vaccinated. More than 1.5 million, about 4% of the state’s population, are fully vaccinated.
The COVID-19 vaccines currently available require two shots. Pfizer’s shots should be taken three weeks apart and Moderna’s four weeks apart.
The CDC on its tracking dashboard reported California through Tuesday has administered 16,003 doses for every 100,000 residents. The state continues to rank 33rd among the 50 states and Washington, D.C., as it did late last week.
At a news conference unveiling a new vaccination center in Coachella, Gov. Gavin Newsom said California is distributing about 200,000 doses per day. The constraint preventing a faster pace, he said, is supply.
At the local level, there has been volatility. Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said the allocation for the city’s clinics increased from 16,000 last week to 58,000 this week, but it remains unclear why it plunged from 90,000 the week before last. The vast majority injected this week will be dedicated to second-dose appointments, Garcetti said in a Tuesday statement.
Sutter Health, which serves the Sacramento area, had to stop offering first-dose appointments to patients over age 65 a little more than a week after opening to that group, citing limited supply.
California’s federally allocated supply of doses is set to increase considerably. CDC allocation data released Tuesday show California’s allotment growing from about 622,000 first doses this week to 763,000 next week, an increase of 23% representing the biggest week-over-week boost yet. Combined first and second doses will increase from around 1.1 million to 1.25 million, about a 13% boost.
But nationwide, supply delays are expected for at least the next few days due to the blast of extreme winter weather blanketing most of the contiguous U.S. A CDPH spokesperson did not immediately respond to an emailed question asking to what extent, if any, California expects its supply to be impacted by weather in other parts of the country.
Local health officers in recent weeks have aired concerns that the CDPH dashboard represents a significant underreporting of what counties are actually administering.
The state this week is handing off its vaccine administration to a third party — insurance company Blue Shield, through a $15 million contract that was made available Monday.
Here is the latest on vaccine distribution in the Sacramento area:
How many doses have been given across Sacramento area?
These are the totals for combined first and second doses, administered through Tuesday, as reported by the state public health department, by recipient county of residence.
▪ Sacramento: 217,668 (13,882 doses per 100,000 residents)
▪ El Dorado: 31,287 (16,203 doses per 100,000)
▪ Placer: 83,434 (20,836 doses per 100,000)
▪ Yolo: 38,828 (17,364 doses per 100,000)
Local officials, including Yolo County health officer Dr. Aimee Sisson, have cautioned these may represent significant undercounts of the true number of shots that have been administered, due to data reporting delays and other issues.
That being said, El Dorado, Placer and Yolo counties now all exceed the statewide average for doses per 100,000 doses, with Placer 30% ahead of California’s overall pace reported by CDPH. Sacramento County remains 13% below the statewide rate, but that is down from 16% about two weeks ago.
Sacramento-area health offices, public clinics and pharmacies
Local health departments in the capital region are receiving several thousand doses of Pfizer and Moderna vaccines on a weekly basis, according to each county.
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.
Counties with little or no presence from major hospital systems such as Sutter Health or Kaiser Permanente may get larger direct allocations relative to their populations, which are then distributed to smaller hospital systems.
In the past few days, CVS and Rite Aid have begun offering 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: 1A (front-line health workers; long-term care residents) and early stages of 1B (adults 65 and older; essential workers in some sectors)
▪ Received directly: 138,225, updated Feb. 5
▪ Administered: 114,089 (83% of received)
The local health department says Sacramento County is now vaccinating education and child care workers along with law enforcement, emergency services and residents 65 and older.
Sacramento County’s health department got 16,000 doses of vaccine last week and was told it would receive 18,125 doses this week, about a 13% increase.
The county is offering vaccine appointments at two clinics for those in eligible groups at the Sacramento State campus and at California Northstate University in Elk Grove. The county is also partnering with Safeway pharmacies, and some CVS and Rite Aid stores are offering shots in partnership with the federal program.
The university clinics offer the Pfizer vaccine, meaning a three-week wait between doses; Safeway, CVS and Rite Aid pharmacies are offering Moderna, a four-week wait.
Recipients must have an appointment before arriving. Appointment information can be found via the Sacramento County website at dhs.saccounty.net, and at the CVS and Rite Aid websites.
El Dorado
▪ Phase: 1A and first tier of 1B “with an emphasis on residents 75 and older”
▪ Received: 28,075 doses as of Thursday
▪ Administered: Approximately 22,000 doses (78% of received), according to the county website
The county announced Tuesday it is opening a clinic for El Dorado residents 75 and older. It will be a drive-thru clinic held Feb. 27 on an appointment-only basis. Appointments can be made using calvax.org.
El Dorado County says that as of Sunday it has one retail pharmacy participating in the federal program: the CVS store on Palmer Drive in Cameron Park. Appointments can be made through the CVS website or CVS pharmacy app.
Placer
▪ Phase: 1A; first tier of 1B “partially in progress”
▪ Received: Not updated since late January.
▪ Administered: Not updated since late January.
According to the CVS website, there are stores participating in the federal vaccine partnership in Auburn and Rocklin.
Appointments are also being made at Remedy RX Pharmacy in Roseville through a local partnership.
Information on county-run clinics and Safeway partners in Placer is available at placer.ca.gov/vaccineclinics.
Yolo
▪ Received: At least 15,800 total first and second doses, county spokeswoman Carolyn Jhajj said last Thursday.
▪ Administered: 9,391 first doses and 6,190 second doses through Monday, according to the county website.
Yolo announced Tuesday morning it has will begin distributing vaccine doses to Phase 1B essential workers including teachers and child care, emergency services and food and agriculture.
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 opened its appointments to those 65 or older earlier in February, opening centers in Sacramento and Roseville to vaccinate patients.
But since late last week, the provider says on its patient website that it lacks supply to schedule first-dose appointments “until further notice.” Sutter Health says second doses for those who received their first shots will proceed on schedule.
Kaiser Permanente continues to focus initial inoculations on those ages 75 and older due to limited supply, according to its patient website.
Kaiser Permanente opened a vaccination clinic Friday at Sierra College in Rocklin and also recently established two other sites: one at Cal Expo, and another near Kaiser South Sacramento on Bruceville Road. The provider hopes to expand to a fourth site soon.
“We estimate we could administer 10,000 vaccines a day just in greater Sacramento across our various sites depending on supply” between those four sites, Kaiser Permanente said in an emailed statement.
According to its website, Kaiser Permanente through Tuesday has received just over 351,000 doses from the state. It has administered about 320,000 of them (91%), and has 144,000 future appointments already scheduled.
Kaiser Permanente says it has about 693,000 members ages 65 and older living in Northern California, 270,000 of whom are 75 or older.
“We’re starting with adults 75 and older,” the vaccination page on the provider’s website reads.
Dignity Health’s Mercy Medical Group said in a Friday update it has administered 7,300 total vaccine doses, including 3,200 during clinics last weekend.
Mercy Medical Group says it plans to increase capacity to 3,400 first doses and 3,400 second doses per week. It is holding weekly clinics at sites in Citrus Heights, Folsom, Midtown and Elk Grove.
The provider says it will be proactively contacting patients who meet the eligibility criteria.
UC Davis Health officials told The Sacramento Bee in early February that the system has vaccinated more than 22,000 people, including more than 11,000 employees and students plus more than 10,000 patients.
It started vaccinations for adults ages 75 and older in mid-January and according to its website is now vaccinating patients 65 and older.
This story was originally published February 17, 2021 at 1:09 PM.
