Bad weather causes vaccine cutbacks. Clinics in Sacramento, NorCal could be delayed
The nation’s winter storms have delayed vaccine shipments to Northern California, forcing some health care entities to cut back on shot-giving just as many were ramping up, officials said Thursday afternoon.
Sacramento County health officials say they have been told their weekly shipment, normally due on Thursday, has been delayed, forcing them to send word out to community injection sites that they may have to cancel or delay appointments in the coming days.
“There are currently shipment delays due to the severe weather events happening in other parts of the country,” county spokeswoman Brenda Bongiorno told The Bee. “Some partner clinics may have to either cancel, delay or reduce capacity due to these delays.”
The county and healthcare providers are working “to shift doses around to cover as many prescheduled appointments as possible this upcoming week.
“Priority will be given to second dose appointments, however shortages may result in a delay in some second dose appointments. While getting your second dose on time is ideal, the CDC allows second doses to be administered up to 6 weeks after the first.
“We’re hopeful as soon as the weather clears, we’ll receive our doses. However, we request patience and understanding as we adapt to changing situations.”
Two other Northern California health providers, Sutter Health and Kaiser Permanente, have told The Bee they must reduce the number of shots they are able to give this week due to delayed deliveries of doses.
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.”
“Inclement weather has additionally impacted already allocated doses which were en route, causing further impacts to Sutter, as well as other health systems,” Sutter Health spokeswoman Liz Madison said Thursday.
Madison said Sutter Health has administered more than 260,000 doses of vaccine to date to health care workers and patients ages 65 and older.
“We scaled rapidly and have the capacity to vaccinate tens of thousands of patients a day throughout our footprint, but our ability to do so remains dependent on vaccine supply. As soon as more vaccine is made available to us, we will reopen appointments.”
Kaiser Permanente health officials in Northern California on Thursday said they are affected.
“The extreme cold weather that has affected much of the country has caused delays in the delivery of some of the supply of COVID-19 vaccine allocated for Kaiser Permanente,” a spokeswoman told the Bee. “We are in contact with federal and state health officials to track these delays and our operations teams are working to minimize any potential impact to the administration of vaccine at our facilities.
“If any appointments are affected by this delay we will reach out directly to individuals to reschedule.”
Meanwhile, the massive inoculation effort continued this week, prior to the storm delays, at a slightly higher pace than before.
The California Department of Public Health on its vaccine tracker reported Thursday providers have administered 6,699,137 of the 8.7 million doses distributed to hospital systems and health offices, a daily increase of 263,953 doses. From Tuesday to Wednesday, the state reported administering about 174,000 doses.
Nearly 264,000 doses represents the largest single-day increase reported yet by CDPH.
But it remains unclear what portion of the increase may come from cleaning up lingering data issues acknowledged by CDPH leadership. Local health officers in recent weeks have aired concerns that the CDPH dashboard was showing significant underreporting of what counties were actually injecting.
The state public health numbers don’t distinguish between first and second doses. According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly 4.9 million people have received at least one dose in California, which means more than 12% of the state’s 40 million residents are at least partially vaccinated. Close to 1.6 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 Wednesday has administered 16,441 doses for every 100,000 residents. The state now ranks 31st among the 50 states and Washington, D.C by this measure, an increase from 33rd the previous few days.
Supply and delivery schedules have been thrown into question by the extreme winter weather conditions that are impacting most of the rest of the contiguous United States.
Local health officials in some jurisdictions across California, including San Diego and San Luis Obispo counties, have already reported shipments that did not arrive on time. Officials in Sacramento County say there’s uncertainty about whether next week’s doses will proceed on schedule, and it will likely depend on whether or not they arrive by Friday.
Several major distribution hubs have been affected by snow and deep freeze, leading the CDC to warn of possible “widespread” delays.
One White House official told McClatchyDC the hope is that shipments will be delayed no more than 48 hours, if weather begins to cooperate soon. Forecasts call for severe “arctic blast” storm conditions to continue through Friday.
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 Wednesday, as reported by the state public health department, by recipient county of residence.
▪ Sacramento: 225,143 (14,359 doses per 100,000 residents)
▪ El Dorado: 33,106 (16,203 doses per 100,000)
▪ Placer: 85,687 (21,399 doses per 100,000)
▪ Yolo: 39,966 (17,873 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.
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.
County spokeswoman Brenda Bongiorno said the county as of Thursday morning had not yet received its shipment for next week’s vaccinations, which typically arrive each Thursday or Friday.
“If we get (the weekly shipment) later today or tomorrow, we can prepare for next week,” Bongiorno said. “If shipments are lacking or delayed, there is a plan in place to work with healthcare provider partners to reallocate doses to avoid appointment disruption — with an emphasis on second doses, if needed.”
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 Feb. 11
▪ Administered: Approximately 22,000 doses (78% of received), according to the county website
In a Thursday update, the county reiterated priority on those ages 75 and older because that group is “most likely to have serious, even deadly, impacts of COVID-19.”
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.”
“Inclement weather has additionally impacted already allocated doses which were en route, causing further impacts to Sutter, as well as other health systems,” Sutter Health spokeswoman Liz Madison said Thursday.
Madison said Sutter Health has administered more than 260,000 doses of vaccine to date to health care workers and patients ages 65 and older.
“We scaled rapidly and have the capacity to vaccinate tens of thousands of patients a day throughout our footprint, but our ability to do so remains dependent on vaccine supply. As soon as more vaccine is made available to us, we will reopen appointments.”
Kaiser Permanente health officials in Northern California on Thursday said they too are affected.
“The extreme cold weather that has affected much of the country has caused delays in the delivery of some of the supply of COVID-19 vaccine allocated for Kaiser Permanente,” a spokeswoman told the Bee. “We are in contact with federal and state health officials to track these delays and our operations teams are working to minimize any potential impact to the administration of vaccine at our facilities.
If any appointments are affected by this delay we will reach out directly to individuals to reschedule.”
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,” Kaiser Permanente said in an emailed statement.
According to its website, Kaiser Permanente through Thursday morning 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 an update last Friday it has administered 7,300 total vaccine doses, including 3,200 during clinics the preceding 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 18, 2021 at 2:05 PM.
