The flow of the COVID-19 vaccine is increasing slightly in California, but it remains a trickle for those trying to get their first dose, according to authorities.
The forecasts discussed on Wednesday showed that California is expected to receive 1.28 million doses of vaccine next week and 1.31 million the following week. Both numbers are above the state’s last shipment, which was about 1.08 million.
The expected increase, while welcome, will not come close to the supplies needed to clear California’s existing vaccination line – let alone deal with the other millions who will become eligible to receive vaccines in about a month from now.
“What we need is more manufactured supplies,” said Governor Gavin Newsom this week.
A consistent challenge for California and the rest of the country is that both currently available COVID-19 vaccines, one from Pfizer-BioNTech and the other from Moderna, require two doses, given three and four weeks apart, respectively.
Lately, the need to provide a second dose has encouraged authorities across the state to severely limit – or completely suspend – access to the first doses.
Of the approximately 2.6 million total doses that California is scheduled to receive in its next two shipments, only about 1.34 million should be available for the first few doses, according to figures presented during Wednesday’s meeting. the state’s vaccine advisory committee.
“Dedicated allocation appears to be increasing, so keep your fingers crossed that you keep going in that direction,” said Dr. Tomás Aragón, a California public health officer and director of the state’s Department of Public Health.
It is not clear how these doses will be distributed across the state. On Wednesday, Los Angeles County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said she did not have an estimated allocation for the next two to three weeks.
“We still have a great deal of variability in what we receive from week to week,” she said.
As long as the number of vaccines shipped remains insufficient, however, the authorities will face a dilemma: they must administer a large number of first doses when supplies are available, knowing that this may lead to restrictions in the future, or try to reserve weekly vaccines per week for ensure that people receive both doses on their two-dose regimen?
“I have been across the state, large cities, small communities … other communities on the coast, large scale locations at Dodger Stadium and Petco Park in Santa Clara at Levi’s Stadium,” Newsom said during a news conference Wednesday at Coachella city. “At the end of the day, we are restricting many of these sites because of supply restrictions.”
More vaccines, however, are on the way. President Biden announced earlier this month that the United States had secured the contractual commitments of Moderna and Pfizer to deliver 600 million doses of the vaccine by the end of July.
US drug regulators are also examining another Johnson & Johnson vaccine candidate that requires only one dose.
“This is extraordinarily encouraging, but June, July is not March and April,” said Newsom. “And then, over the next few weeks, we will have to be honest with people about what we can and cannot do.”
Another new and undesirable aspect of the vaccine launch is the winter storms that are hitting other parts of the country.
While California has largely avoided the deep freeze, officials said this week that adverse conditions elsewhere could affect shipments of new doses.
In Los Angeles, delays related to the winter storm will affect about 12,500 consultations at city-run vaccination sites, such as Dodger Stadium, Mayor Eric Garcetti said on Thursday.
Two shipments were interrupted because of bad weather: 26,000 doses, previously scheduled to arrive on Tuesday, are still in Kentucky, and another 37,000, scheduled to be used next week, are in Tennessee, Los Angeles officials said in a statement. communicated.
“Bad weather across the country has interrupted travel and shipments across the country, including the delay in delivering our vaccines,” said Garcetti in the statement. “Our city is ready to deliver COVID-19 vaccines quickly, safely and equitably – and as soon as the doses arrive in Los Angeles, we will put them in people’s arms immediately.”
The weather so far has not affected LA County-administered vaccination sites, which include Pomona Fairplex, the Forum, Cal State Northridge, the county Education Office and Six Flags Magic Mountain.
“Los Angeles County continues to vaccinate eligible people who have an appointment for second doses at locations operated by the county. It is not yet known what impact, if any, will be felt next week. We will provide information to the public as we learn more, ”said the county’s Department of Public Health on Thursday.
Jeff Zients, who heads President Biden’s COVID-19 task force, said during a news conference on Wednesday that the weather was affecting delivery and distribution companies.
“People are working as hard as they can, given the importance of taking vaccines to states and providers,” said Zients, “but there is an impact on deliveries.”
San Diego County supervisor Nathan Fletcher said during a weekly update on COVID-19 that supply lines to the locations where Pfizer and Moderna made their vaccines were simply frozen at the moment. The main manufacturing facilities for the country’s two coronavirus vaccines are in Massachusetts and Michigan.
“Both, along with the routes back and forth, have been affected by the snow and winter weather conditions that we are seeing across the country,” he said. “It will affect our ability to administer vaccines this week.”
In Orange County, authorities had to temporarily close their Disney vaccine super site after an expected delivery of Modern vaccines did not arrive on Tuesday.
That site will be closed from Thursday to Monday, officials said. Another location at Colégio Santa Ana will also temporarily close from Saturday, and its reopening will depend on an offer.
A representative from the California Department of Public Health could not immediately say on Thursday how widespread the vaccine was, but confirmed that California was “among the states that were affected by the delays”.
Fresno County officials said 7,800 doses of Moderna were tied up due to weather conditions and were not delivered on Thursday morning.
“We don’t have a date for when these doses will be delivered at this time,” said Joe Prado, manager of the county’s community health division at the county’s Department of Public Health, in a statement. “We are working with medical service providers in the community to provide the necessary doses of our stock this week to avoid canceling appointments.”
Some vaccination appointments also had to be rescheduled in Santa Barbara County this week, after an expected distribution of the Moderna vaccine was “delayed due to severe weather conditions across the country,” officials said in a statement.
As of Wednesday, more than 1.45 million Californians have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to Aragón. More than 6.4 million total doses have been administered across the state.
California reported on Tuesday that more than 1.5 million doses received have not yet been used – although authorities said they could be reserved for appointments already scheduled, or the number could be lower if the doses had not yet been tracked. in the state data collection system, in individual reports from local providers.
In LA County, more than 1.5 million doses were administered to eligible residents and nearly 400,000 individuals were fully vaccinated, according to Ferrer.
Authorities continued to preach patience in the face of limited supplies of vaccines, especially as millions of people become eligible to get the vaccine in the next month.
From March 15, people aged between 16 and 64 with disabilities or with a high risk of morbidity and mortality due to COVID-19 will be able to schedule vaccination appointments.
Most California counties are vaccinating people who work in healthcare, live in long-term care facilities, or are 65 or older. As supplies allow, local agencies can also administer doses to educators and caregivers of children; food and agricultural workers, including grocery workers; and law enforcement personnel and other emergency response teams.
Amid the continuing supply crisis, officials are increasing resources in preparation for larger allocations in the future – although it is unclear when that aspiration will become a reality.
Ferrer said on Wednesday that he believes March may be another difficult month for the distribution of the vaccine, but that circumstances will improve in April, as additional doses become available.
Whenever the expected influx occurs, state and local health officials say they will be ready for it.
“Our ability to vaccinate residents and workers,” said Ferrer, “just depends, at this point, on the availability of having enough vaccine, because we have many different locations that can meet the varied needs of our population.”
Times team writer Jennifer Lu and San Diego Union-Tribune team writer Paul Sisson contributed to this report.