Vaccine updates: Nearly half of California adults have 1 dose; providers swap out J&J
As California prepares to expand eligibility to all residents 16 and older this week, the state is on the brink of a remarkable milestone: nearly half of Californians in that age group are already at least partially vaccinated.
Providers in the state have administered more than 23 million total doses to date, the California Department of Public Health announced Tuesday.
About 8.87 million people have been fully vaccinated, and another 6.31 million have received a first shot of the Pfizer or Moderna two-dose vaccine, according to CDPH.
Those totals work out to about 38% of California’s total population being at least partially vaccinated, and 22% fully vaccinated. For its adult population of about 31 million, 49% are at least partially vaccinated and 29% fully vaccinated.
More than 28 million vaccine doses have shipped to California. CDPH says about 5.2 million doses are “on hand” in providers’ inventories. The state has recently averaged about 366,000 doses administered per day.
The state has instructed providers to make vaccine appointments eligible to all Californians 16 and older beginning no later than this Thursday. In the capital region, Placer County expanded its county-run clinics to that age group starting Sunday and Yolo County did so early Tuesday afternoon.
J&J on pause as feds investigate handful of cases
Gov. Gavin Newsom and CDPH on Tuesday directed providers to pause use of the single-dose vaccine from Johnson & Johnson, hours after the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended a halt while officials investigate six instances of severe blood clotting in recipients.
The CDC will review the cases in a Wednesday meeting.
More than 6.8 million doses of J&J have been given across the U.S., including about 900,000 in California.
Several planned J&J clinics in the Sacramento area have already switched the shots out for Pfizer or Moderna. The J&J vaccine made up only 4% of this week’s federally allocated supply in California, due to a nationwide supply shortage that preceded the pause.
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: 810,542 (51,694 doses per 100,000 residents)
▪ El Dorado: 106,458 (55,132 doses per 100,000)
▪ Placer: 242,642 (60,595 doses per 100,000)
▪ Yolo: 140,390 (62,783 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.
Northern California VA locations giving vaccines
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 Martinez and Yreka are offering walk-in clinics with no appointment necessary. Starting next week, the Martinez VA clinic will expand to walk-ins.
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 between 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.
Community clinics planned for Tuesday at Luther Burbank High School, Liberty Towers and St. Paul Baptist Church originally scheduled to use the single-dose J&J vaccine have been switched to Pfizer or Moderna two-dose vaccines.
Most clinics continue to require appointments in advance. 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 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.
El Dorado
El Dorado runs clinics at its public health offices in Placerville and South Lake Tahoe.
The county last week announced dates for the South Lake Tahoe clinic: it will give shots every Monday, Thursday and Friday now through the end of April, with the exception of Monday, April 19. Appointments are available through CalVax, at calvax.org.
The county also offers clinics for El Dorado residents ages 65 and older in 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 gives 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. Walmart in Placerville was offering J&J doses prior to the pause.
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 this week opened eligibility to residents ages 16 and older, a few days ahead of California’s deadline to do so.
Placer offers its county-run clinics at The Grounds, formerly the Placer County Fairgrounds, in Roseville. Pfizer first-dose clinics this Tuesday through Thursday are full. Details for a clinic Friday have not yet been released.
Appointment links for qualifying residents are posted as they become available at placer.ca.gov/vaccineclinics.
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 announced Tuesday that it has opened eligibility to residents 16 and older, two days ahead of the state-set timeline.
“With vaccine supply remaining limited, we didn’t expect to open up appointments to all adults early, but we had appointments for 50+ going unfilled last week,” Yolo County health officer Dr. Aimee Sisson said in a written statement. “These safe and effective vaccines are too precious to leave sitting in freezers.”
Yolo County in a tweet said the J&J pause “will not greatly impact the county’s current vaccine timeline” and that any J&J appointments planned at clinics this week will be replaced by Pfizer or Moderna. The county does not run clinics on Tuesdays.
The county has public first-dose clinics planned Wednesday in Woodland, Thursday in West Sacramento and Friday in Davis. Appointments are booked through MyTurn. Yolo plans private first-dose clinics this weekend in Esparto and Madison.
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 confirms on its patient website that it is pausing appointments for the J&J vaccine. The hospital network is opening first-dose appointments for Pfizer and Moderna “as supply allows.”
Sutter says on its patient website it has administered more than 525,000 doses to date.
UC Davis Health is vaccinating patients ages 16 and older, using the state’s My Turn website as well as its MyUCDavisHealth app to schedule vaccination appointments.
Kaiser Permanente is vaccinating patients in eligible groups, regardless of Kaiser membership. Kaiser Permanente confirms on its website it is offering vaccines to those ages 50 and older, and will expand to 16 and older starting Thursday.
Kaiser Permanente says it has administered about 1.37 million of the 1.54 million doses it has received at Northern California facilities, and has more than 441,000 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 13, 2021 at 12:38 PM.
