Contra Costa County announced on Monday that it is expanding the eligibility of the coronavirus vaccine to people aged 50 and over who live or work in the county, making it the second county in the Bay Area after Solano to do so. .
California has not expanded eligibility for people aged 50 or over, but plans to open vaccines for people aged 16 and over until the last week of April, Governor Gavin Newsom said on Friday. The California Department of Public Health declined on Monday to say whether it would first expand eligibility for those 50 and older, before opening it to everyone else.
If California follows the same path as New York and several other states, it could take the incremental step of adding those aged 50 and over to the priority list soon. California is currently giving vaccine priority to people aged 65 and over, essential workers in certain sectors, homeless and incarcerated people and people aged 16 to 64 with underlying disabilities or health problems.
It has been about two months since the state opened eligibility for people aged 65 and over. Older adults are at greater risk of becoming seriously ill or dying from COVID-19, so basing eligibility on age was an effort by lawmakers to ease the burden on hospitals.
Contra Costa’s announcement means that people between 50 and 64 years old do not need to have an underlying disability or medical condition, or work in a qualified sector, to be vaccinated. The change comes at a time when many states are lowering their age or other vaccination requirements. New York on Tuesday will make residents 50 and over eligible for vaccines, and Arizona on Wednesday will open eligibility for residents 16 and over at state-administered vaccination sites in three counties, state officials said on Monday. -market.
Two states, Alaska and Mississippi, have opened vaccinations for everyone over 16. And at least 20 states announced plans to do so in March or April, according to the New York Times.
In Contra Costa County, about 235,000 residents aged 50 to 64 are now eligible, according to the county. The expansion comes as the county begins to receive additional vaccine from the federal government for its federally qualified health centers.
“We look forward to the next few months, when we can end vaccine eligibility, when everyone and everyone is eligible,” said Diane Burgis, Chairman of the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors, in a statement. “More and more doses of vaccine are arriving in the county each week and we expect this trend to continue.”
Other Bay Area counties reached on Monday said they are not yet expanding eligibility for those 50 and older and are monitoring the state’s next steps for guidance. They would like to make vaccines available to more people, they said, but supply constraints make it difficult to predict exactly when this will happen.
“At this point, we are keeping up with the state’s current eligibility groups,” said Marin County spokeswoman Laine Hendricks. “We estimate that about 160,000 Marin residents are eligible under these definitions and we still have a number of people to reach until we consider these groups to be saturated. That said, if the state signaled a change and opened up that group, we would align ourselves with the state and start vaccinating these individuals ”.
Expanding eligibility does not necessarily mean that all those eligible will be able to receive their vaccines immediately because vaccine delivery remains unpredictable. Last week, when the state opened eligibility for people aged 16 and over with underlying disabilities and medical conditions, some were unable to schedule appointments immediately.
Last week Solano County expanded eligibility for people aged 50 and over. On Monday, county officials said they saw a sharp 60% drop in vaccine supply in the past two weeks and are expected to postpone the scheduling of many first dose appointments at mass vaccination clinics.
Vaccine supplies arriving in California, which currently stands at around 1.6 million to 1.7 million doses per week, are expected to double by the end of April if the projections of the Biden administration and vaccine manufacturers are true, said Blue Shield of California, who manages the distribution of vaccines. for the state. This increase will be driven mainly by the expected influx of more Johnson & Johnson vaccines from early April, Blue Shield Chief Executive Paul Markovich said in an interview on Friday.
The addition of the vaccine made by AstraZeneca, which on Monday released promising results from a major trial in the United States showing a 79% effectiveness rate in preventing the symptoms of COVID-19, may also bode well for accelerating vaccinations . AstraZeneca plans to apply for emergency use authorization in the United States “in the coming weeks” and has already been approved in dozens of other countries, including much of Europe. Concerns about a small number of blood clots in people who were recently vaccinated temporarily suspended vaccine administration in some countries earlier this month, but many resumed vaccines after European regulators considered it safe.
The AstraZeneca vaccine is unlikely to obtain FDA authorization before May, and until then the United States may not need it because more Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines will be available.
As of Monday, nearly 10 million Californians, about 30% of the state’s population aged 16 and over, are at least partially vaccinated. Of this group, 5.2 million, or 16%, are fully vaccinated, according to state data.
The team writer, Erin Allday, contributed to this report.
Catherine Ho is a writer for the San Francisco Chronicle. Email: [email protected] Twitter: @Cat_Ho