Santa Clara County used less than half of the vaccines it received, but county leaders say the real problem is the lack of data from hospitals about how many vaccines they are delivering..
The Board of Supervisors proposed a plan on January 5 to receive data from all hospitals and clinics that administer vaccines in the county. They hope to approve a finalized plan by January 26.
“We have no jurisdiction over them, but they have a responsibility to serve their patients in the county where we will be receiving the vaccine from and across the state,” said county supervisor Joe Simitian.
County leaders also said that hospitals need to expand to whom they offer the vaccine and that priority groups in hospitals can be very restricted.
“Taking a very thin slice when looking at Phase 1A, Level One, before we get to the next level means that we are not transferring the vaccine as quickly as possible to as many people as possible,” said Simitian.
Phase 1A Level 1 includes health workers with a higher risk of exposure to COVID-19.
Although Santa Clara County health officials oversee the distribution of vaccines at the local level, the state is responsible for distributing vaccines to hospitals linked to larger companies, such as the Kaiser Permanente or the Palo Alto Medical Foundation.
About 1 million residents of the county are in the care of these hospitals, according to the county’s proposal.
Supervisors plan to request vaccination data from these hospitals, as well as from Veterans Affairs hospitals and other federal programs that are not under their supervision.
Council president Cindy Chavez said that obtaining data from these hospitals would give a better idea of how fast people are being vaccinated in the county.
“Part of the reason why Supervisor Simitian and I are requesting this transparency is that the state is communicating directly with entities like Sutter and Kaiser,” said Chávez. “The US federal government is communicating directly with VA hospitals, but that doesn’t tell us how far or how fast we are moving within the county.”
Since January 8, the county has vaccinated only about 47,000 people after receiving 110,000 vaccines so far, said COVID-19 county testing officer Marty Fenstersheib. At least 122,950 Pfizer and Moderna vaccines have been distributed to the county.
The 47,000 people vaccinated in Santa Clara County do not include injections given at Veterans Affairs clinics and federal programs.
However, obtaining data from federal programs can be more difficult than private hospitals. Simitian said the county cannot force programs to hand over their data.
“If you take just a moment to look at the numbers, we can’t afford to lose a month,” Simiatian said during a meeting on Monday. “We cannot afford to lose a week. We cannot waste a single day. “
But neither health officials nor supervisors have discovered a concrete reason for the delay.
On January 8, health officials linked low vaccination rates to health professionals who were hesitant to get the vaccine and the time it takes to ship and store the vaccine. However, they did not provide data on how many people are refusing a vaccine.
However, Simitian said that getting vaccination numbers is just one step towards accelerating vaccination rates in the county.
“Data is not an end in itself,” he said. “It is the tool we use to ensure that we reach everyone in the county. And I think it’s important that this is the end result, because we can’t just dismiss it as a paperwork requirement. It is the essential ingredient in a plan that truly targets the health and well-being of all county residents. “
The plan also addresses the connection with people who do not have a health care provider or are not close to the municipality’s hospital network.
County leaders said they plan to partner with community health clinics to expand their reach with vaccinations and appear to have already enlisted the help of Dolores Alvarado, CEO of the Community Health Partnership, which serves some of the county areas most affected by COVID -19 like East San Jose.
Alvarado said health officials must crack down on misinformation to spread to underserved communities and ensure access to the vaccine.
“(The plan) must address and build confidence that the dose will be available to everyone when their turn comes,” said Alvarado. “This is what the community wants to hear … when I am going to get the vaccine, where I am going and when I get there I will be.”
Despite county leaders outlining a clear need to expand distribution to locations far beyond their own hospitals, they still need to assess whether they have sufficient doses and staff to use more facilities, such as Levi’s Stadium, for mass vaccination sites.
The municipality of Santa Clara has 7% of beds in the remaining intensive care units. The county recorded at least 84,726 cumulative COVID-19 cases and 944 deaths as of January 7. At least 1,092 of those cases and 25 of those deaths have occurred in the past few days.
Contact Mauricio La Plante at [email protected] or follow @mslaplantenews on Twitter.