California ag counties to receive more COVID vaccines. Sacramento, Bay Area may see drop
California is making a big push to substantially increase COVID-19 vaccine availability for essential farm and agriculture workers in the Central Valley, a move that has ripple effects across the state as it redistributes limited supply.
Allocation data from the California Department of Public Health shows local health offices are set to receive a combined total of about 70,000 more doses this week than last week.
Topping the list of biggest supply boosts was Tulare County, which more than doubled from about 4,800 doses to more than 10,000. Tulare was followed by Monterey, Imperial, Kings, Merced and Kern counties, all of which increased by more than 75%.
Those are all ag counties: All six ranked among California’s top nine counties by gross crop value, according to the latest annual report from the state Department of Food and Agriculture.
Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Monday the state plans to open 11 vaccination sites in the Central Valley, where supply allocations would also be boosted by 58%.
This, Newsom said, will help serve “vulnerable and vital Central Valley communities.”
To boost Central Valley vaccination that significantly, doses may be getting shifted away from a few more urban counties in the Sacramento region and Bay Area, sending smaller allocations to some health offices than they’d received in recent weeks.
Sacramento County’s direct allocation of COVID-19 vaccine dropped by a higher number of doses than any other local health department in the state this week, fueling some concern for a county that has already faced inoculation setbacks.
Of the 58 county health offices, 46 got more doses this week than last week. Two of the state’s smallest counties got the same amounts.
The remaining 10, which saw a drop of anywhere from a fraction of a percent to more than 25%, were all located in the greater Sacramento region or the Bay Area, a Bee analysis of CDPH allocation data found.
Those 10 counties were: Yolo, San Francisco, Sonoma, Alameda, Marin, Contra Costa, Placer, Sacramento, San Mateo and Solano. Yolo County and San Francisco saw very minimal change, each dropping less than 1%.
Sacramento’s decline from 18,125 to 14,850 was the third-largest in the state proportionally at 18%, and the biggest raw decrease at 3,275 fewer doses than last week.
Sacramento COVID vaccine concerns
Sacramento stands out within the group for another reason. As of a Tuesday update from CDPH on vaccination progress, the state reported Sacramento County as only having recorded about 16,500 injections per 100,000 residents. The statewide rate was about 18,900, and the other nine counties for which allocations decreased all came in well above that average, ranging from 20,000 to 28,000 per 100,000.
It is important to note that the allocation figures in question refer only to local health offices’ direct allocations. Hospital systems operating in multiple counties receive their own separate allocations, which are approved by the state and federal government and then shipped directly from the manufacturers, such as Kaiser Permanente and Sutter Health in the Sacramento area.
Local health officials have recently aired concerns about the state’s distribution. Sacramento County health officer Dr. Olivia 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 told the county’s Board of Supervisors that the county’s vaccination numbers have been undercounted due to computer program glitches. Yolo County health officer Dr. Aimee Sisson, in a hearing with state lawmakers earlier this month, similarly expressed worry that data problems leading to underreporting of how many doses counties’ health offices are getting into arms may result in counties being unfairly penalized in future allocations.
Sacramento health officials have asked the state to recalculate planned shipments, but have been told to take their concerns to Blue Shield, the insurance company recently hired by the state to take command of vaccine distribution as its third-party administrator. Kasirye and county health chief Jim Hunt say they have a meeting set up with Blue Shield for Friday.
Sacramento County is also still working out the logistics of getting its doses to agriculture workers efficiently, Kasirye said.
Kasirye this week said the county has begun having conversations with groups that work with farmworkers to start setting up a system to get doses to workers in the food and agricultural sector, which is next up in priority order after those 65-plus and teachers.
She is targeting mid-March to start vaccinating workers in agriculture and food service.
That effort may be the most challenging so far for health officials. The county has been refurbishing two trucks to be used as mobile pop-up vaccination tools. The goal will be to get vaccines to where workers are, either in their workplace or at home, rather than require them to drive to a clinic or vaccination site such as Cal Expo.
“Our plan is to start that mid-March. We just had a meeting with (representatives) in the ag and food sector, and are putting together a plan to go to farmworkers,” Kasirye said. “It’s easier to have clinics at those sites than to come to our sites.”
She said the county also is talking with Dignity Health, UC Davis and others about the possibility of doing some walk-in clinics in communities where those essential workers live.
How many have been vaccinated in California?
CDPH on its online vaccine data tracker reported Wednesday providers have administered 7,763,668 doses, an increase of 182,108 from Tuesday after the state reported about 144,000 shots from Monday to Tuesday.
State data reflect the state is playing catch-up following delivery delays caused by extreme winter storms across the U.S. that disrupted supply chains. Close to 1.5 million doses have been marked as “delivered” to local providers since Monday, after shipments halted last Thursday and Friday.
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.”
Supply will increase again next week
The state’s federal allocation of doses has increased for a fifth consecutive week. The Centers for Disease Control on Tuesday reported California will receive about 819,000 first doses next week, up from about 763,000 this week.
Combined with about 563,000 second doses slated to arrive, California is set to receive about 1.38 million total shots of Pfizer and Moderna next week, a 10% increase from the 1.25 million allocated for this week.
In another major development, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration reported Wednesday that it has found Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose COVID-19 vaccine to be safe and effective, all but assuring emergency use authorization is forthcoming.
An FDA advisory committee will hold an all-day meeting Friday to consider whether to recommend authorization for the J&J shot. If the committee recommends as anticipated, the shot could get clearance within a few days and could potentially begin to ship out as early as next week.
The J&J vaccine can be kept for months at refrigerator temperatures, whereas Pfizer and Moderna’s vials are supposed to stay frozen for long-term storage, giving J&J a significant logistics advantage.
J&J officials announced earlier this week that they will be able to ship 20 million doses to providers in the U.S. over the course of March.
How many doses have been given across Sacramento area?
These are the totals for combined first and second doses, administered through Tuesday, as reported by the state public health department, by recipient county of residence.
▪ Sacramento: 263,667 (16,816 doses per 100,000 residents)
▪ El Dorado: 38,138 (19,751 doses per 100,000)
▪ Placer: 100,036 (24,982 doses per 100,000)
▪ Yolo: 48,433 (21,659 doses per 100,000)
Local officials 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
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 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 county opened a drive-thru vaccine clinic at McClellan Park this week, which had its hundreds of appointment slots fill up quickly. It is fully booked, according to the county website.
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 and McClellan 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: 38,390 total doses as of Monday.
▪ Administered: Approximately 23,000 doses (60% of received), according to the county website. Remaining doses “are earmarked for already-scheduled clinics and appointments,” the county says.
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.
After postponing first-dose clinics this week due to the weather-related delays, Placer set up county-run clinics for Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. All are fully booked.
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 Jenny 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. As of midday Wednesday, all clinics announced this week are private, including two for agricultural workers.
Hospital systems
Hospital systems operating in multiple counties receive their own allocations from the state.
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 404,000 of the 480,000 doses it has received at Northern California facilities, and has more than 178,000 future appointments scheduled, each figure boosted by tens of thousands compared to late last week.
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.
“The CDC advises that you can receive the second COVID-19 vaccine up to 42 days (or 6 weeks) after the first dose,” the provider’s vaccine webpage explains.
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.
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 24, 2021 at 1:04 PM with the headline "California ag counties to receive more COVID vaccines. Sacramento, Bay Area may see drop."
