Vaccine updates: California unpauses J&J, but counties await informational materials
State health officials over the weekend cleared providers in California to resume giving the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine, as the state approaches half of its total population at least partially vaccinated against the coronavirus.
Though supply flow for that manufacturer’s single-dose vaccine has been slow due at first to production issues and then because of an 11-day pause recommended by federal health agencies while they investigated reports of blood clotting, federal data show there were about 1.2 million J&J doses still in California providers’ inventories at the time of the April 13 pause.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention along with the Food and Drug Administration on Friday lifted the pause, and Gov. Gavin Newsom and the California Department of Public Health announced Saturday that California would “immediately begin administering it again,” as Newsom tweeted.
However, in the Sacramento region, county health offices early Monday appeared to be awaiting further guidance from the state before planning clinics for this week using J&J.
In a morning video briefing, Yolo County spokeswoman Jenny Tan said the county is awaiting “a one-page graphic and explanation of the low risk of the J&J vaccine” from CDPH, which it expects at some point Monday.
“Once we get it, the county will begin to administer or discuss how to distribute the Johnson & Johnson doses that we’ve paused,” Tan said. “We didn’t receive many Johnson & Johnson doses to start with, so the pause did not greatly impact the county’s vaccine schedule or administration.”
To date, J&J has made up only a little over 1 million of the 28.4 million total doses administered in California. The vast majority have been shots of Pfizer and Moderna’s two-dose vaccines.
CDPH reported Monday that over 11.6 million people in California are now fully vaccinated and another nearly 6.5 million have had a first dose of Pfizer or Moderna, meaning more than 18 million have now had at least one dose.
That’s just over 45% of the state’s total population and 58% of its 18-and-older population partially vaccinated. None of the vaccines authorized in the U.S. are available for juveniles under age 16.
There are reports nationwide of demand for the vaccine dropping in some regions, even as vaccination rates remain far below what experts estimate would be necessary to reach herd immunity status.
There is also concern that the more than week-long J&J pause may undermine some Americans’ confidence in that vaccine or even all COVID-19 vaccines, especially among those who may have already been hesitant.
How many are fully, partially vaccinated in 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: 983,135 (62,701 doses per 100,000 residents)
▪ El Dorado: 126,116 (65,312 doses per 100,000)
▪ Placer: 288,628 (72,079 doses per 100,000)
▪ Yolo: 167,944 (75,105 doses per 100,000)
Here is what percentage of each county’s total population is fully and partially vaccinated, according to CDPH data.
Placer and Yolo counties each over the weekend surpassed 30% of their residents fully vaccinated, ahead of California’s overall rate of 29%, while Sacramento lags at just over 25%.
Figures may be undercounts due to data reporting delays.
Travis AFB, Northern California VA locations giving vaccines
Travis Air Force Base near Fairfield announced this week it is opening appointments to “all individuals, 18 and older” at David Grant USAF Medical Center” because it is receiving a “steady” supply of the Moderna vaccine. Appointment registration is available at informatics-stage.health.mil/covax.
Veterans Affairs Northern California Health Care is now offering COVID-19 vaccinations to veterans and their families at 11 clinic locations: Auburn, Chico, Fairfield, Mare Island, Martinez, Mather, McClellan, Oakland, Redding, Yreka and Yuba City.
As of this week, all of the above except Yreka are offering walk-in clinics with no appointment necessary.
Clinic days and times vary by location. More details are available at northerncalifornia.va.gov.
Sacramento-area health offices, public clinics and pharmacies
Most county health offices are splitting their direct allocations among their own county-run clinics, non-chain hospitals and other partners, including some Safeway pharmacies.
CVS, Rite Aid and Walgreens offer vaccine appointments at some of their pharmacies across California as part of a federal retail pharmacy partnership. Sam’s Club and Walmart stores also recently began offering vaccines in some parts of California. More details are available via those companies’ websites.
Sacramento
Sacramento County continues to offer drive-thru vaccine clinics at Cal Expo, McClellan Park and Natomas High School; and walk-thru clinics at California Northstate University in Elk Grove and at Sacramento State.
Cal Expo, which had used J&J before the pause, is now scheduling clinics using Pfizer.
There are also numerous first-dose clinics run by community partners through at least April, including Bayside Church in midtown, City Church of Sacramento in Oak Park, Orange Grove School, the county’s education office in Mather and Rancho Cordova City Hall.
Most clinics continue to require appointments in advance, but walk-in clinics are becoming more common as supply increases. Scheduling and booking information can be found at dhs.saccounty.net.
Sacramento also has CVS, Rite Aid and Walgreens stores participating in the federal partnership program, and the county is also partnered with 11 Safeway pharmacies.
The Cal Expo, McClellan Park, Sacramento State and Northstate clinics offer the Pfizer vaccine, meaning a three-week wait between doses. Safeway pharmacies offer Moderna, a four-week wait.
With eligibility expanded to older teens, Sacramento County reminds that only the Pfizer vaccine is approved for minors ages 16 and 17.
El Dorado
El Dorado runs clinics at its public health offices in Placerville and South Lake Tahoe.
The county also recently announced Saturday first-dose Moderna clinics at the El Dorado Community Health Center in Cameron Park.
The county additionally offers a clinic at the parking structure at Red Hawk Casino in Placerville on Thursdays, also available through CalVax. It will run each Thursday through at least April 29. The clinic on Tuesday announced more first-dose slots added to this Thursday’s clinic and more second-dose shots added for next week.
The Red Hawk and Placerville public health office clinics give Pfizer shots. The South Lake Tahoe clinic uses Moderna.
Walgreens in Cameron Park and the CVS store on Palmer Drive in Cameron Park are also now offering Moderna vaccine appointments as part of the federal retail pharmacy partnership.
The county is also partnered with six Safeway stores.
More detailed information on county-run and county-partnered vaccine clinics can be found at edcgov.us/Government/hhsa/edccovid-19-clinics.
Placer
Placer County offers its county-run clinics at The Grounds, formerly the Placer County Fairgrounds, in Roseville.
The county says on its website that, “due to decreased vaccine allotments,” the county plans just two first-dose clinics this week, Wednesday and Thursday. Each is offering shots of Pfizer.
Appointment links for qualifying residents are posted as they become available at placer.ca.gov/vaccineclinics and through MyTurn.
Placer is also partnered with eight Safeway pharmacies throughout the county.
According to the CVS website, there are stores participating in the federal vaccine partnership in Auburn and Rocklin. There may also be availability at Rite Aid and Walgreens stores; users should check with individual stores for eligibility, the county says.
Appointments can also be made at Remedy RX Pharmacy in Roseville through a local partnership.
Yolo
Yolo County held several private clinics last week and one public clinic on Sunday. The county has not yet released clinic dates, times or details for this week.
Last week’s private clinics included second doses for agriculture workers, first doses for homebound residents and first doses for Woodland High School students, according to the county website.
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. All in the Sacramento area confirm they are offering vaccine appointments to all ages 16 and older.
UC Davis Health is using the state’s My Turn website as well as its MyUCDavisHealth app to schedule vaccination appointments for UC Health patients and non-patients.
The UC Davis Health website still shows J&J doses as being on pause.
Sutter Health also confirms on its patient website that paused appointments for the J&J vaccine remain paused. The hospital network is opening first-dose appointments for Pfizer and Moderna “as supply allows.”
Sutter on its patient website says it has administered more than 625000 doses to date.
Kaiser Permanente is vaccinating patients in eligible groups, regardless of Kaiser membership.
Kaiser Permanente said in an update last week that it had administered about 1.74 million of the 1.8 million doses received at Northern California facilities, with about 389,000 future appointments scheduled.
Dignity Health’s Mercy Medical Group has begun using My Turn to schedule appointments, and is working with the state and other partners to offer vaccines to eligible Californians.
