Name: California says vaccinating everyone over 65 could take four months
Brand: sfchronicle.com
SKU: sfchronicle-com-44
Availability: OnlineOnly

critic

California says vaccinating everyone over 65 could take four months

preview

California recently said people 65 and older were eligible to get coronavirus vaccines. But getting two shots into everyone in that age group could take another four to five months, state health officials said Wednesday.Given the current rate of vaccines coming into the state — between 400,000 doses and 500,000 doses a week, in a good week — it will take an estimated 20 to 22 weeks to vaccinate the 65-and-over population alone, state health officer Dr. Erica Pan said during a state vaccine advisory committee meeting.There are about 6.2 million Californians who are 65 or older, according to the committee. Herd immunity is believed to be reached if at least 70% of people are vaccinated, so 4.34 million people in this group would need to be immunized. Because the two currently available vaccines, by Pfizer and Moderna, both require two doses, that means 8.68 million doses would be needed to complete vaccinations for this group alone.The state has received about 4 million doses so far. Vaccinations began about four weeks ago, with frontline health care workers going first.Pan said Wednesday that most skilled nursing homes in California that are part of the CVS and Walgreens federal pharmacy program will complete vaccinations soon. Other long-term care facilities such as assisted living centers are slated to complete vaccinations by mid-February.Coronavirus VaccineInconsistent, scarce vaccine supply has been a major issue in the coronavirus vaccine rollout. States get their vaccine allocations from the federal government, and the state then allocates doses to counties and health care providers.The state expects to receive vaccines at the current rate of 400,000 to 500,000 doses a week for the next several weeks, though that might go up by 100,000 doses a week.Updated to include drought zones while tracking water shortage status of your area, plus reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Area’s largest water districts.“It’s a very small amount at least for the next several weeks,” Pan said.Pan said officials hope that additional vaccine manufacturers will apply for FDA emergency use authorization soon, which would help increase vaccine supply, but the earliest that is likely to happen is March. Health officials also hope that the Biden administration will provide more clarity on the nation’s vaccine supply.Pan said also said at Wednesday’s meeting that the state will soon be issuing a statement soon about the handful of people who had allergic reactions after receiving the Moderna vaccine at a mass vaccination site at San Diego's Petco Park last week. The state recommended pausing the use of that lot of 330,000 vaccines, and that has left many counties and health care systems even shorter than they were already.Catherine Ho is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: Twitter:Updated to include drought zones while tracking water shortage status of your area, plus reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Area’s largest water districts.

California recently said people 65 and older were eligible to get coronavirus vaccines. But getting two shots into everyone in that age group could take another four to five months, state health officials said Wednesday.Given the current rate of vaccines coming into the state — between 400,000 doses and 500,000 doses a week, in a good week — it will take an estimated 20 to 22 weeks to vaccinate the 65-and-over population alone, state health officer Dr. Erica Pan said during a state vaccine advisory committee meeting.There are about 6.2 million Californians who are 65 or older, according to...

public

Health care reporter at @SFChronicle. Currently covering COVID-19 and vaccines.

Catherine Ho

Delivering the Bay Area’s best journalism every day. Subscribe and support the newsroom: http://SFChronicle.com/subscribe

California says vaccinating everyone over 65 could take four months

No article scores yet.

CRITIC REVIEWS

PUBLIC REVIEWS