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Vickie Connor
| Palm Springs Desert Sun
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Riverside County supervisors were surprised this week to learn that California has been allocating doses of the COVID-19 vaccine to counties based on the number of eligible residents – not the total population.
The news came as the county continues to try to increase its inoculation efforts in the face of limited supply. Approximately 350 times scheduled on Thursday morning for a new vaccination site at the Palm Springs Convention Center which will open with limited hours on Friday.
The Palm Springs site plans to vaccinate 500 people a day, starting Monday.
Some people, including Palm Springs resident Mike Thompson, walked to the convention center in hopes of receiving the vaccine on Thursday. Dressing worker Jovann Castellón helped Thompson, 73, make an appointment using his smartphone. He secured one for Friday at 3pm
“I was about to drive to Beaumont,” said Thompson after taking about 15 minutes to register on the Curative website. “It’s worth it for me.”
Riverside County is among the many counties struggling with vaccine shortages that are paralyzing efforts to inoculate substantial numbers in the state of nearly 40 million residents, which surpassed New York in the somber COVID-19 death toll statistic. , according to Johns Hopkins University data reported Thursday.
The death toll in California reached 45,496, exceeding 45,312 in New York.
During the first four to six weeks of vaccine launch, vaccine allocations were based on the population of health workers in each county, said Darrel Ng, senior communications consultant for the state’s COVID-19 Vaccine Task Force, by and on Tuesday.
Also included were residents who lived in long-term care facilities, according to Brooke Federico, a spokesman for Riverside County.
Three weeks ago, residents of the population aged 65 and over became an additional factor.
“California is allocating based on the eligible population,” said Ng this week.
The allocations are aligned with the state’s eligible priority groups: Health professionals and long-term residents were given access to vaccines first, then elderly people aged 65 and over.
Riverside County Fifth District Supervisor and Vice President Jeff Hewitt said he was “absolutely surprised” and “horrified” by the state’s allocation methodology.
“In per capita terms, we thought it was fair amounts going to our different counties,” said Hewitt.
“I would love to see their data showing that any healthcare professional is anywhere close to danger compared to someone who is (an) elderly person,” added Hewitt. “I would love to see the justification for doing this.”
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The California Department of Health is not including eligible essential workers in its allocation estimates, said Kim Saruwatari, Riverside County Public Health Director, because not every county is currently inoculating these populations.
Riverside County opened access to the vaccine for teachers, rural workers, police and others in that priority group last month.
This means that as of last week, only about 60% of the 800,000 residents eligible for a shot were being counted towards county funds, according to spokesman Brooke Federico.
“It is a very fluid process,” said Saruwatari. “Whether the methodology is the best or not is still under discussion and we continue to have these discussions with CDPH and our partners.”
San Bernardino County officials, however, were already aware that the allocations were based on the eligible population, spokesman David Wert said on Thursday.
“The county does not believe that the transition of health professionals to over 65 will significantly change allocations to San Bernardino County,” said Wert.
Is Riverside County getting the problem?
The state’s methodology emerged during a meeting of the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday, when Saruwatari pointed out that some counties were receiving more doses of the COVID-19 vaccine per capita than Riverside County.
Saruwatari said that the counties of San Diego and Santa Clara stood out because each “received a large number of vaccines per capita compared to us”.
San Diego and Santa Clara counties received about 180 vaccines per 1,000 residents, according to Saruwatari. Riverside County received about 100 vaccines for every 1,000 residents, she said.
San Diego County has about 2.5 times as many health workers as Riverside County, Saruwatari said. Therefore, the vaccine distribution in San Diego County was 13.3% of the state’s total doses – that of Riverside County was about 4.3%, said Federico.
Ng did not immediately provide updated information on the total dose allocation for each county.
The state said it had delivered more than 7.6 million doses by Wednesday. According to data available from counties that day, Riverside County – home to 6.3% of California’s population – received about 3.5% of that total, while San Diego County, which is home to 8.4% of the population, received about 9.2%.
The municipality of Santa Clara, which represents about 4.9% of the state’s population, received 4.9% of these doses. Los Angeles County, home to about a quarter of the state’s population, received 16.9%.
Health workers eliminated from allocation
Since the state is including individuals aged 65 and over in its estimates, Riverside County will begin to see a slight increase in allocations and San Diego County will see a reduction, said Saruwatari.
Starting with this week’s first dose allocations, Federico said, the state is reducing the number of Phase 1A health workers in its estimates.
“As the entities so far have received enough vaccine to cover their Phase 1A populations, these estimates will be eliminated from the denominator,” said Federico.
Half of those counted in Phase 1A estimates were removed for allocations last Tuesday and the other half will be removed for allocations set for next week, she said.
This means that, starting next week, vaccine allocations from California counties will be based solely on how many residents over 65 are in their population.
“Currently, the allocation takes into account the population of people over 65,” said Ng on Thursday. “In the coming weeks, the population of essential workers will also be included.”
Riverside County will receive 6.19% of the state’s total vaccine allocation, said Federico. The county has more than 365,000 residents over the age of 65, according to census data. On the other hand, San Diego County – home to more than 484,000 seniors – will receive 7.94% of the state’s vaccines, she said.
First district supervisor Kevin Jeffries said he was “a little skeptical” about the state’s explanation for why more doses would go to wealthier counties like San Diego and Santa Clara.
“It just smells like typical California bureaucrats favoring certain counties over others, but I can’t prove it,” said Jeffries.
Fourth District Supervisor V. Manuel Perez also expressed concern about the fairness of the state’s decision, pointing to a state decision in the early 1990s to transfer control of certain health programs to county control.
“The Inland Empire, Riverside County and San Bernardino County have, unfortunately, not always received their fair share since the realignment in 1991. We are still continuing these struggles today,” said Perez.
He also said that he wished this conversation had taken place earlier, as supervisors had the impression that the allocation was based on population.
California has about 6.5 million people aged 65 and over and about 2 million health workers, said Ng.
“We will need 17 million doses of vaccine to complete these groups,” said Ng.
As of Wednesday, California had administered more than 5 million doses of vaccine and is currently receiving about 1 million doses per week.
Maria Sestito covers aging and the elderly population in Coachella Valley for The Desert Sun. She is also a Report for America member and new to the desert. Say “hello” via [email protected] or @RiaSestito.
Vaccine Schedules at the Palm Springs Convention Center: Know Before You Go
- Although it is listed as an “occasional” site, it is necessary to make an appointment.
- Nominations are available on the Curative website at curative.com. There is also a button on the Riverside County website at rivcoph.org/COVID-19-Vaccine.
- The site will be open from 8:30 am to 4:30 pm, Monday through Friday, including the President’s Day holiday next week, according to city officials.
- Whoever receives the first doses on site will also be able to sign up for the second doses while there.
- Although those at the scene on Thursday were asked to send pictures of their health insurance cards, health insurance is not a requirement for receiving a vaccine, according to the state. COVID-19 vaccines are administered free of charge to residents.
- Appointments are open to eligible residents, which includes health workers and the elderly over 65, as well as essential workers in agriculture, education and law enforcement.
Coachella Valley: cases so far
Health officials reported on Thursday 116 new cases, an additional virus-related death and 258 new recoveries in Coachella Valley. Here are city and community descriptions, with numbers in parentheses showing increases since Wednesday:
- City Cathedral: 6,784 cases (+19), 93 deaths and 5,883 recoveries
- Coachella: 7,712 cases (+24), 75 deaths (+1) and 6,824 recoveries
- Desert Hot Springs: 3,975 cases (+14), 58 deaths and 3,413 recoveries
- Indian Wells: 185 cases (+1), 6 deaths and 157 recoveries
- Indian: 11,859 cases (+27), 179 deaths and 10,270 recoveries
- La Quinta: 3,231 cases (+7), 52 deaths and 2,767 recoveries
- Palm Desert: 3,746 cases, 96 deaths and 3,172 recoveries
- Palm Springs: 3,531 cases (+7), 101 deaths and 3,003 recoveries
- Rancho Mirage: 1,043 cases, 35 deaths and 822 recoveries
- Unincorporated communities: Bermuda Dunes: 611 cases, 7 deaths and 525 recoveries; Desert Edge: 337 cases, 12 deaths and 266 recoveries; Desert Palms: 242 cases (+1), 19 deaths and 195 recoveries; Garnet: 860 cases (+1), 18 deaths and 742 recoveries; Mecca: 1,112 cases (+2), 17 deaths and 979 recoveries; North Shore: 342 cases, 2 deaths and 303 recoveries; Oasis: 855 cases (+4), 6 deaths and 766 recoveries; Sky Valley: 212 cases (+1), 4 deaths and 173 recoveries; Thermal: 459 cases (+1), 5 deaths and 408 recoveries; Thousand Palms: 998 cases (+5), 6 deaths and 845 recoveries; Vista Santa Rosa: 294 cases, 2 deaths and 258 recoveries
- Vaccines: On Wednesday, Riverside County administered 281,099 of the 296,875 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine it received. The county, in turn, allocated 158,150 doses to community providers and 13,975 doses to its own public health clinics.
- California: 3,371,556 cases (+8,575) and 45,456 deaths (+461)