Name: California vaccine supply will fall 15% next week, just as demand is expected to surge
Brand: sfchronicle.com
SKU: sfchronicle-com-212
Availability: OnlineOnly

critic

California vaccine supply will fall 15% next week, just as demand is expected to surge

preview

This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigateCalifornia expects to receive fewer doses of coronavirus vaccine for the next two weeks, just as the state is slated to see a surge in demand from millions of newly eligible people starting April 15.The state said its vaccine allocation from the federal government will drop 15%, from 2.4 million doses this week to 2 million doses next week, and dip another 5% the week after that to 1.9 million doses.The shortfall, if it persists, could throw off the state’s plans to , the target date set by Gov. Gavin Newsom to allow almost all sectors of the economy to resume operations at or near capacity. The reopening assumes the state will meet aggressive vaccination goals, including that by mid-June, all Californians 16 and over will be able to get an appointment for a shot within two weeks.The governor’s office on social media Thursday that the state still “is on track to open safely June 15.”Coronavirus CoverageState officials have projected optimism that vaccine supply will increase significantly in April and May. But the fact that supply is actually decreasing the next two weeks, well into the month of April, brings into question this timeline, some local public health officials said.“This could be a one-time thing, but does raise additional concerns about setting a fixed date (to reopen),” said Marin County Health Officer Dr. Matt Willis. “We haven’t seen the increase in doses promised yet.”The projected decrease in doses applies to 70% of the total vaccine supply coming to the state from the federal government. The remaining 30% goes directly to retail pharmacies like Walgreens and CVS, community health clinics known as federally qualified health centers, and Veterans Affairs. But it’s not clear whether supply going through those channels is increasing or decreasing because those figures are not publicly shared regularly.The main reason for the decrease in supply is a major drop in the single-dose Johnson &amp; Johnson vaccine. This week California got nearly 575,000 doses of the Johnson &amp; Johnson vaccine, and that will fall 88% next week to 67,600 and to 22,400 the week after that.This is roughly in line with the 86% drop in weekly allocations of the Johnson &amp; Johnson vaccine nationwide, . The agency’s figures indicate nearly 5 million doses of Johnson &amp; Johnson vaccine were allocated this week, and next week that will plummet to just 700,000.Several other states, including Florida, New Jersey and Oregon, are also projecting major decreases in Johnson &amp; Johnson vaccine next week. Florida is slated to get 88% fewer doses, while New Jersey and Oregon expect to get 90% fewer doses and 17% fewer doses, respectively, according to federal and state health officials.The development comes days after an error at a manufacturing plant producing the Johnson &amp; Johnson vaccine, run by Maryland biotech company Emergent BioSolutions, forced the company to throw away 15 million doses. The Biden administration put Johnson &amp; Johnson in charge of the plant over the weekend.The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees vaccine distribution and allocation, did not respond to a question Thursday about whether the Emergent problem is what led to the drastic drop in Johnson &amp; Johnson vaccine.For Bay Area residents eager to get vaccinated, this may mean a longer wait for appointments. This is especially true since April 15 will mark the start of so-called vaccine “open season,” when everyone 16 and over can get shots. Tens of thousands of newly eligible people likely will be getting in line for appointments without enough vaccine to accommodate them all, at least at first.The supply of Pfizer and Moderna doses also remains limited, which could mean some appointments for first shots of those two vaccines are delayed, as clinics focus on administering second shots.“Given the lack of supply, we are advising health care providers to prioritize second doses,” said the COVID Command Center for San Francisco, which is getting 38% less vaccine next week compared to this 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.“When we have vaccine, San Francisco has done a great job of getting people vaccinated,” said San Francisco Health Officer Dr. Susan Philip during a virtual briefing Thursday to discuss reopening plans. “But we still don’t have the supply that we need. We can administer 20,000 vaccinations per day, and we are not receiving nearly enough to be able to do that. So we are going to need to get a lot more vaccine to people in San Francisco in order to feel confident that we can fully, fully open up at full capacity.”Vaccine allocations “continue to be inadequate” in Santa Clara County, vaccine officer Dr. Marty Fenstersheib said Tuesday during a COVID-19 update to the Board of Supervisors. “We hope they will improve in the coming weeks but our eligibility and demand far exceed our current supply. ... It will get worse if we don’t get enough vaccine in the coming weeks.”Alameda County expects its Johnson &amp; Johnson allocation will drop 75%, from 15,400 doses this week to 3,800 doses next week. Overall doses coming to the county, including the Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson &amp; Johnson vaccines, will fall 34% from about 40,200 doses this week to 26,700 doses next week.The expected decrease in Johnson &amp; Johnson vaccine has not forced cancellations of appointments, said county spokesperson Neetu Balram. Vaccine clinics often only learn toward the end of any given week how many doses they should expect for the coming week. So they schedule appointments for just a week out.“Thanks to careful planning, we do not expect to cancel appointments at any Alameda County points of dispensing and will carefully monitor our supply and information from the state to make future decisions,” Balram said.Chronicle staff writer Erin Allday contributed to this report.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.

This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigateCalifornia expects to receive fewer doses of coronavirus vaccine for the next two weeks, just as the state is slated to see a surge in demand from millions of newly eligible people starting April 15.The state said its vaccine allocation from the federal government will drop 15%, from 2.4 million doses this week to 2 million doses next week, and dip another 5% the week after that to 1.9 million doses.The shortfall, if it persists, could throw off the state’s plans to , the target date set by Gov. Gavin Newsom to allow almost all...

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 vaccine supply will fall 15% next week, just as demand is expected to surge

No article scores yet.

CRITIC REVIEWS

PUBLIC REVIEWS