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COVID vaccine updates: California expects 1.1 million J&J doses as one-shot vaccine closer to OK

Sacramento Bee - 3/1/2021

Feb. 26—California continues to administer tens of thousands of shots per day in its campaign to mass vaccinate against COVID-19, rebounding from weather-related supply issues across the U.S. from late last week.

The California Department of Public Health on its online vaccine data tracker reported Friday providers have administered 8,232,420 doses, an increase of 229,300 from Thursday after the state reported about 240,000 shots from Wednesday to Thursday.

The numbers from CDPH don't distinguish between first and second doses, but the U.S. centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports over 5.8 million Californians have received at least one dose of Pfizer or Moderna, and close to 2.4 million have had both doses. This means about 19% of the state's adult population is at least partially vaccinated and 8% of adults are fully vaccinated.

According to federal data, California and other populous states such as Texas, New York and Florida have administered lower percentages of the overall vaccine doses they have received than less populous states such as New Mexico, North Dakota and Montana.

CDC data show that California ranked 40th on this basis, having administered 73.6% of its supply. New Mexico leads at 90.9%.

The Golden State came in 29th in terms of the number of doses administered per 100,000 residents. The CDC reported that 25,711 adult residents have received the vaccine for every 100,000 Californians 18 and over. States ahead of California included Massachusetts (27,666 per 100,000) and Florida (26,086).

Two major priority changes have been announced for March in California.

Gov. Gavin Newsom announced the state would dedicate at least 10% of its vaccine supply to education and child care workers starting Monday, though numerous jurisdictions have already starting setting aside that amount or more.

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.

Newsom: Johnson & Johnson one-shot vaccine coming

California expects to start administering the new Johnson & Johnson vaccine next week and to receive more than 1.1 million of the single-dose shots in the next three weeks, Newsom said Friday.

The vaccine, still in the final federal approval process, has fewer handling restrictions than the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines now being used. Those vaccines require two doses to be fully effective and must be stored at extremely low temperatures.

The Biden administration has told California it can expect to receive 380,000 Johnson & Johnson vaccines next week and Newsom said he expects the same amount each week for three weeks, but it's just a preview.

"It's consistent based on that three-week window," he said at a Fresno news conference. "We will figure out where to land in terms of the distribution." Newsom was in the Central Valley city alongside comedian George Lopez to drive up confidence in the life-saving shot among California's farm laborers.

On Friday, a Food and Drug Administration advisory committee endorsed distribution of the J&J vaccine, paving the way for likely authorization this weekend by the FDA and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Once approved, federal officials expect to have only a few million J&J doses to divide between states in initial shipments. But by the end of March, J&J has said it can supply enough to vaccinate 20 million people — a much-needed boost to stretched supplies.

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: 278,218 (17,744 doses per 100,000 residents)

— El Dorado: 39,912 (20,669 doses per 100,000)

— Placer: 105,511 (26,349 doses per 100,000)

— Yolo: 51,301 (22,942 doses per 100,000)

Placer on Thursday surpassed the milestone of 100,000 doses among residents, which for a county of just over 400,000 works out to about one dose for every four people.

Through Thursday's state data update, Placer ranked best rate in the capital region and 29% ahead of the statewide rate of 19,943 per 100,000.

Among the state's 36 counties with at least 100,000 residents, Placer ranked fourth, trailing only Napa (30,686 per 100,000), Marin (29,399) and Santa Cruz (26,614).

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 Feb. 19. Of those, 173,237 were administered to Sacramento County residents: 123,629 first doses and 47,947 second doses.

Sacramento County offers drive-thru vaccine clinics at McClellan Park and Natomas High School; and walk-thru clinics at California Northstate University in Elk Grove, Sacramento City Unified School District's Serna Center, Del Campo High School and 11 partnering Safeway pharmacies.

All require appointments in advance. Scheduling and booking information can be found at dhs.saccounty.net. Residents can sign up online for all except the Natomas High clinic; for that, residents must call 916-561-5253 on Mondays between 8 a.m. and 11 a.m. to make an appointment, according to the county.

The McClellan Park and Northstate clinics offer the Pfizer vaccine, meaning a three-week wait between doses. Safeway pharmacies as well as CVS and Rite Aid stores participating in the federal partnership offer Moderna, a four-week wait.

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.

The Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians, which operates Red Hawk Casino near Placerville, is offering drive-up vaccine clinics at the casino's parking structure, the tribe announced Friday. The clinics are weekly on Thursday, by appointment only, for eligible groups, and is in partnership with El Dorado County.

El Dorado's other clinics are at its public health offices in Placerville and in South Lake Tahoe.

The county is also partnered with six Safeway stores, and 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.

Placer offers most of its county-run clinics at The Grounds, formerly the Placer County Fairgrounds, in Roseville. Appointments for the remainder of this week are booked, and no dates have been announced for next week's clinics.

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. 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

— Phase: 1A and early 1B

— Received: At least 15,800 total first and second doses, county spokeswoman Carolyn Jhajj said Feb. 11.

— Administered: 11,837 first doses through Sunday and 6,204 second doses through last Feb. 18.

Yolo announced last week began 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. All three clinics announced this week were private, including two for agricultural workers.

Hospital systems

Hospital systems operating in multiple counties receive their own allocations from the state.

Kaiser Permanente is now vaccinating patients 65 and older after earlier lack of supply had kept appointments limited to those 75 and up, according to its patient website. It is still prioritizing those 65 and older who have high risk of exposure or existing medical conditions.

In a Wednesday update to its website, Kaiser Permanente said 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.

Sutter Health opened its appointments to those 65 or older in early February, opening centers in Sacramento and Roseville to vaccinate patients, but had to close them down about a week later due to lack of supply. This issue predated weather delays linked to winter storms across the U.S. by several days.

Scheduling of first-dose appointments through Sutter Health has been paused "until further notice."

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.

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.

The Associated Press, The Fresno Bee and The Sacramento Bee'sCathie Anderson and Michael Finch II contributed to this story.

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