Sacramento moves into next tier of vaccine eligibility. Who’s now in line for the shots
Sacramento County hit two major COVID-19 vaccine milestones Thursday, signaling a new chapter in the growing effort to bring life back to normal in the capital region.
The first farm workers, restaurant servers and janitors began getting vaccinations, starting at a drive-up site in the Natomas High School parking lot.
The county on Thursday afternoon was also expected to begin offering the first inoculations with the new single-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
Some 2,000 people were scheduled to get the vaccines Thursday at the Natomas appointment-only venue, which has now become a regular Thursday inoculation site, organized by the Natomas Unified School District, county health officials, Urgent Care Now and the city of Sacramento through Councilwoman Angelique Ashby’s office.
Morning appointments like Yazmin Rodriguez, though, got Pfizer’s vaccine. A server, bartender and fill-in manager at Chevy’s on the River, Rodriguez said she was tipped off to her group’s inclusion by a friend in the industry. She’d been protecting herself as much as possible throughout the pandemic, but still worried about coronavirus transfer at the restaurant.
“I’m not comfortable (being at the restaurant), but that’s what I do for a living, so I do it. I take my precautions all the time — wear gloves, wear my mask the right way all the time,” Rodriguez said. “But yeah, it’s hard to do that. And now I’m going to feel more comfortable, you know?”
Food service workers were originally slated to be vaccinated alongside teachers in Sacramento County, as was the case in most other California counties. But they were quietly pushed to the back of Group 1B, where they stood as of last week.
Stephanie and Christopher Cotta received their first Pfizer dose Thursday morning, but could have used it earlier. The siblings, who grow blueberries and grapes in Galt, both contracted COVID-19 last month, possibly from a rural feed store.
Their symptoms were mild, though, and passed by the time their group was up for vaccination, making the Cottas eligible for immunization. Stephanie got their parents vaccinated at the Natomas site as part of the 65-and-over group, and though the injection Thursday “felt like a punch in the arm,” she said she was glad to have the extra protection.
Sacramento pop-up vaccine clinics
Officials said they plan to bring the vaccines to more essential workers in the next few days and weeks in other areas of the county, including setting up a variety of pop-up clinics, some of them served by specially equipped mobile inoculation trucks.
“We’re coming for you,” Urgent Care Now medical director Dr. Rusty Oshita said. His company is one of several dozen clinics working with and getting doses from the county health department.
The community has applauded essential workers for continuing to go to work daily throughout the pandemic, risking themselves to help bring food to the table. And state and local officials have been promising equity in the distribution of vaccines. But, so far, many of the the state’s “essential workers” have not yet been given access to shots.
“This is a monumental day,” Mayor Darrell Steinberg said at the Natomas gathering, where hundreds of cars filtered through the shot zone. “Words are important, but they have to be backed up with action.”
State Sen. Richard Pan, D-Sacramento, a doctor and leading vaccine advocate in California, called the moment notable as well because the community is now making use of a third vaccine that should help increase the number of inoculations and considerably speed up the months-long vaccine effort.
The Johnson & Johnson vaccine is a single shot protocol, making it much simpler and faster than the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, each of which require recipients to return three to four weeks later for a second dose.
Tests have suggested that the Johnson & Johnson efficacy against infection is lower than Pfizer and Moderna, but health officials nationally have pointed out that the J&J was tested more recently against new and stronger strains of the virus than Pfizer and Moderna were. It is uncertain how well the first two vaccines would have fared in tests involving the new virus strains.
Health officials also point out that the J&J vaccine has proved to be equally as efficient in stopping the more serious virus infections, the kind that cause hospitalization.
“Every vaccine is equally effective against hospitalizations and deaths,” Pan said. “I recommend you get the vaccine that is available to you first.”
That was the approach for Patrick Mulvaney, co-owner of Mulvaney’s B&L restaurant in midtown Sacramento. When people ask what company’s vaccine he got, he just says “yes.”
“Scientists are all about mumbo jumbo … efficacy and rates and all that s---. Here’s the deal: if you get a shot, you’re not going to die. If you get a shot, you’re not going to go to the hospital. That’s all you need to know, right?” Mulvaney said.
David Huerta, president of United Service Workers West, said the pandemic has further exposed health and safety issues in California, where front-line workers, notably farm workers and people in the service industry, are most exposed to illness. Some of them lack affordable health care and affordable housing, he said .
“Communities of color have been on the front lines,” he said. “We have to work on equity. We have to assure that all working people will have access not only to the vaccine, but (also) ensuring that everybody has access to good jobs and access to health care.”
The number of people in California who qualify to get a vaccine is expected to jump notably next week, on Monday, when the state is expected to allow counties to open vaccinations for people ages 16 to 64 with underlying health conditions.
This story was originally published March 11, 2021 at 3:09 PM.