‘Not acceptable’: Sacramento not getting fair share of COVID vaccine, county alleges
Sacramento County officials on Tuesday charged the state with short-changing them on vaccine doses under a new distribution system — and complain they have asked the state to recalculate planned shipments, but have so far been rebuffed.
Local health officials say they have been told their weekly shipment this week will be 18% lower than last week at the same time that the state’s overall allocation is expected to increase nearly 23%.
“This is just not acceptable,” county health chief Jim Hunt said in a report to the county Board of Supervisors. “We have pointed out the inequities.”
Hunt said state health officials have told him the county, however, must take it up with Blue Shield, the third-party service recently hired by the state hired to take over control of vaccine shipments to counties. Hunt and county health officer Dr. Olivia Kasirye said they have set up a meeting with Blue Shield on Friday.
The dosage dispute comes as the county is attempting this week to ramp up vaccine clinics after being forced to shut several of them down since late last week, when dosage shipments were delayed nationally due to major winter storms interrupting supply chains.
Kasirye said the state recently changed its calculations for county doses in part based on how many doses each county appeared to be getting into residents’ arms. Kasirye, speaking to the county board, said the county’s vaccination numbers have been undercounted due to computer program glitches.
Officials with the California Department of Public Health on Tuesday declined to comment about Sacramento County’s complaint. But a spokesman pointed to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s announcement Monday that California is now shipping 58% more doses to valley counties with high numbers of agricultural workers.
A review of state data this week shows that shipments to Fresno and Kern counties are up dramatically this week, while Sacramento, Alameda and Contra Costa all saw their numbers drop. Hard-hit Los Angeles County also saw its dose share increase.
Overall, Sacramento said it has been told to expect 14,850 doses this week, less than the 16,000 it anticipated, and 18% less than the 18,000 weather-delayed doses it was allocated last week.
The allocations in question represent only the doses that are shipped directly to county health departments. A substantial amount of vaccines also are sent directly to health care institutions with medical centers and clinics in those counties, as well as pharmacies in those counties that also offer vaccinations as part of a federal partnership program.
Notably, Kaiser Permanente, which has a major presence in Sacramento and Placer counties, saw its dosage shipments increase 70% statewide, which should benefit local Kaiser patient members. That change reflects the state’s agreement to provide Kaiser with a level of doses that is better in line with the number of state residents who are Kaiser members.
Sacramento is lagging neighboring counties in the number of doses it has administered per 100,000 residents, state data show.
Placer has the highest per-capita rate of first and second doses in the region at 24,442 per 100,000 residents, followed by Yolo at 20,691, El Dorado at 19,377 and Sacramento at 16,465, according to CDPH numbers updated Tuesday.
Sacramento is the only county among those four with fewer doses per 100,000 residents than California as a whole, trailing the statewide rate by about 13%.
California working to get back on schedule
Two months into the COVID-19 vaccination campaign, California is working to get back on schedule after weather-related supply issues halted deliveries late last week.
CDPH on its online vaccine data tracker reported Tuesday providers have administered 7,581,560 doses, an increase by 143,635 from Monday after the state averaged about 169,000 a day from Friday through Monday.
CDPH data showed fewer than 5,000 doses shipped to the Golden State last Thursday and zero last Friday, then reported about 1 million as shipped over the weekend.
The state in a Tuesday morning update, reflecting numbers from the end of Monday, marked virtually all of those million doses as delivered to health providers, with about an additional half-million marked as shipped out but not yet arriving.
Officials in Sacramento and Yolo counties said Monday they expected last week’s delayed deliveries to arrive by about Tuesday.
Though there have been numerous setbacks — from supply to data reporting inadequacies to frequent changes in the priority system dictating who gets the earliest rounds of shots — state and federal data show California vaccinations have ramped up on the whole.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention upgraded its data tracker this week to include numbers broken down by states’ adult populations.
The new data show California as having administered at least 5.56 million first doses, enough for 18% of the state’s 18-and-older population. That’s 1% higher than the nationwide rate.
Its portion of adults receiving both doses, though, was 6.9%, nearly a percentage point below the national rate. The disparity suggests lingering impacts from California’s slow start, with fewer second doses following fewer first doses.
Pfizer’s vaccine is approved for ages 16 and older, while Moderna’s has only been approved for 18 and older. Due to the priority phases, only a tiny fraction of minors in California — fewer than 3,000 teens working in a handful of essential sectors — have received Pfizer doses, CDC data show.
Two major priority changes have been announced for March. California on March 1 will begin dedicating 10% of its vaccine supply to education and child care workers. And starting March 15, the state will open eligibility to those ages 16 to 64 who have high-risk health conditions including but not limited to cancer, heart conditions, severe obesity, Type 2 diabetes and pregnancy.
The COVID-19 vaccines currently available require two shots. Pfizer’s shots should be taken three weeks apart and Moderna’s four weeks apart. CDPH and the CDC each advise that the timeline can be stretched to a maximum of six weeks, if administering the shots on schedule is “not feasible.”
The CDC posts federal supply allocations to states each Tuesday, typically by late morning or early afternoon. Those had not been posted as of 12:30 p.m.
How many doses have been given across Sacramento area?
These are the totals for combined first and second doses, administered through Sunday, as reported by the state public health department, by recipient county of residence.
▪ Sacramento: 258,173 (16,465 doses per 100,000 residents)
▪ El Dorado: 37,417 (19,377 doses per 100,000)
▪ Placer: 97,874 (24,442 doses per 100,000)
▪ Yolo: 46,267 (20,691 doses per 100,000)
Local officials, including Yolo County health officer Dr. Aimee Sisson, have cautioned these may represent 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
Aside from last week’s weather issue, health departments in the capital region report 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.
CVS and Rite Aid 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: 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: Not reported; county awaiting state data update, according to local health office
▪ Administered: 219,754, through last Friday. Of those, 173,237 were administered to Sacramento County residents: 123,629 first doses and 47,947 second doses.
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. The county is not yet vaccinating food and agriculture workers.
The county has opened a drive-thru vaccine clinic at McClellan Park, which as of midday Tuesday had close to 800 slots available through Friday for residents 65 and older
The county also continues to offer appointments at two university clinics: one at the Sacramento State campus and another 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
El Dorado County says that 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.
Placer County has not announced dates for first-dose clinics this week.
“New first dose appointments for the week of February 22 have been postponed due to weather-related vaccine shipment delays,” the county website reads.
According to the CVS website, there are stores participating in the federal vaccine partnership in Auburn and Rocklin. Appointments have also been 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 Feb. 11.
▪ Administered: 9,635 first doses and 6,204 second doses through last Thursday, county spokeswoman Tan said Monday. Additionally, Yolo administered 2,100 doses at a clinic on Saturday, the county said in social media posts.
Yolo announced last week it 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.
UC Davis Health in a Tuesday update said it has started vaccinating based on occupation in addition to patients who are 65 and older.
The provider says it is now vaccinating “patients who work in education and childcare, emergency services, and food and agriculture” in line with the state’s Phase 1B guidelines. It sent occupation surveys to patients over the weekend.
Given recent supply issues, UC Davis Health says there is “a possibility your second dose could be delayed,” but advises that this isn’t a problem.
“While there’s a chance a second vaccine appointment could be delayed, you don’t have to worry, according to the CDC. Like with other vaccines, the second vaccination is a booster shot,” the provider’s vaccine webpage reads. “The CDC advises that you can receive the second COVID-19 vaccine up to 42 days (or 6 weeks) after the first dose.”
Sutter Health opened its appointments to those 65 or older earlier in February, opening centers in Sacramento and Roseville to vaccinate patients, but said a little less than a week before the weather supply issues that it had stopped booking those appointments due to lack of supply. Scheduling of those has been paused “until further notice.”
Sutter Health has administered more than 260,000 doses of vaccine to date to health care workers and patients ages 65 and older, spokeswoman Liz Madison said last Thursday.
Kaiser Permanente continues to focus initial inoculations on those ages 75 and older due to limited supply, according to its patient website. It is also beginning to reach out to people 65 and older who have high-risk conditions.
Kaiser Permanente in a weekend statement said it will receive 20% of California’s vaccine supply this week. The incoming supply boost will help expand appointments for those ages 65 to 74.
According to its website, Kaiser Permanente says it has administered about 345,000 of the 396,000 doses it has received at Northern California facilities, and has more than 145,000 future appointments scheduled.
Dignity Health’s Mercy Medical Group says it has vaccinated 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.
This story was originally published February 23, 2021 at 1:07 PM.
