As California reaches 12 million fully vaccinated, Sacramento still trails state rate
California has reached 12 million residents fully vaccinated against COVID-19, state health officials said Thursday.
The milestone represents about 30% of the state’s roughly 40 million residents. An additional 6.4 million Californians are considered partially vaccinated with one dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine, the California Department of Public Health reported Thursday.
Just over 46% of the state has received at least one dose, according to CDPH data.
In Sacramento County, rates have trailed California throughout the rollout. Through Wednesday, only 27% of county residents were fully vaccinated and 39% of county residents had had at least one dose, state data show.
Use of the J&J single-dose vaccine has been cleared to resume in California since the weekend, after an 11-day pause at the recommendation of federal agencies while health officials investigated a very small number of blood clotting cases in recipients.
Sacramento County’s public health office will receive an allocation of about 22,400 doses next week, but it will not include any doses of J&J, Rachel Allen said on a Zoom media briefing Thursday morning, though California is receiving an allocation of about 88,000 J&J doses that will be split among some other counties.
However, Allen said the county and its partners have about 4,400 doses still on hand from before the pause, and that that should be enough for clinics next week.
J&J has been used largely for mobile clinics and in harder-to-reach populations due to the logistical advantage of it only requiring one dose.
The county has resumed giving J&J to the homeless. Due in part to the pause, which resulted in regulators attaching a label advising of the small blood clotting risk, county clinics for the homeless are now providing a choice and offering both J&J along with either Pfizer or Moderna, according to Allen and county health officer Dr. Olivia Kasirye.
Kasirye reiterated during Thursday’s briefing that for Sacramento County, which has been stuck in California’s “red” tier reopening restrictions due to stagnating COVID-19 case rates, the key to advancing is more vaccinations.
Local health officials said it will be critical to shift emphasis on going into communities with lower vaccine rates, including “door to door” efforts, Kasirye said.
Appointment slots are not filling up as quickly as they did in previous months, and some clinics are left with doses at the end of the day, suggesting a decline in demand.
Kasirye said it is “hard to say” whether vaccine hesitancy and things like online misinformation have been playing a major role, because even with the slowdown, there has still been significant demand.
“We know that we do have to address it. Part of the way for us to do that is with trusted messengers, and also being able to provide a forum where people can ask questions,” she said.
The county offers public, online forums on the subject of COVID-19 and vaccination twice a month, Kasirye said.
How many are fully, partially vaccinated in 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: 1,013,026 (64,607 doses per 100,000 residents)
▪ El Dorado: 129,200 (66,909 doses per 100,000)
▪ Placer: 295,671 (73,838 doses per 100,000)
▪ Yolo: 171,493 (76,692 doses per 100,000)
Here is what percentage of each county’s total population is fully and partially vaccinated, according to CDPH data.
Figures may be undercounts due to data reporting delays.
Travis AFB, Northern California VA locations giving vaccines
Travis Air Force Base near Fairfield announced last 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 this week, including Friday clinics at City Church Sacramento in Oak Park, at the Orange Grove School, at Salam Islamic Center on College Oak Drive and at Pucci’s Pharmacy in midtown.
Pucci’s Pharmacy is offering appointments for J&J as well as Moderna. Salam Islamic Center is giving Moderna.
The county education office in Mather also has first-dose clinics planned this Thursday and Friday, giving Pfizer.
With eligibility expanded to older teens, Sacramento County reminds that only the Pfizer vaccine is approved for minors ages 16 and 17.
Many clinics continue to require appointments in advance, but walk-in availability is becoming more common as supply increases and demand slows. 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.
El Dorado
El Dorado runs clinics at its public health offices in Placerville and South Lake Tahoe.
The county recently announced Saturday first-dose Moderna clinics at the El Dorado Community Health Center in Cameron Park.
El Dorado County notes on its website that J&J has been cleared for use, but it is not listed as being given at any of the clinics planned for this week. J&J doses made up about 11% of the county health office’s supply inventory as of Tuesday, officials say.
Walgreens in Cameron Park and the CVS store on Palmer Drive in Cameron Park offer 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 said on its website that, “due to decreased vaccine allotments,” the county was planning only two first-dose clinics this week, one Wednesday and another Thursday. Each offered 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 has planned three private and three public vaccination clinics this week.
Planned private clinics included second doses for previous private clinics Wednesday and Saturday, as well as a first-dose clinic for Cache Creek Casino on Thursday.
Yolo is holding public clinics this Thursday, Friday and Sunday, with appointments not required for any of them.
The county will give shots of both Pfizer and J&J on Thursday at La Superior in Woodland, from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.; jabs of Pfizer on Friday at the HHSA Bauer building in Woodland, from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m.; and jabs of Pfizer Sunday, at Harper Junior High School in Davis, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
All three public clinics are available for residents 16 and older. Thursday’s clinic is a walk-thru, while the other two are drive-thrus.
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 in an emailed statement Wednesday said it is receiving increased vaccine supply and is “scheduling thousands of vaccination appointments throughout Northern California.”
Sutter Health says it has administered more than 660,000 doses to date.
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 as well as non-patients.
The UC Davis Health website still shows J&J doses as not being used.
Kaiser Permanente is vaccinating patients in eligible groups, regardless of Kaiser membership.
Kaiser Permanente said in an update this week that it had administered about 1.9 million of the 1.92 million doses received at Northern California facilities, with close to 300,000 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.
This story was originally published April 29, 2021 at 11:41 AM.
