Supported by a healthy flow of vaccines and major advances in obtaining vaccines in the arms of older residents and frontline workers, Contra Costa County on Monday expanded its vaccine eligibility to individuals aged 50 and over, regardless underlying health conditions.
The move comes about a week after Solano County made the same decision, as the available consultations were not used, while other counties, like Santa Clara, are missing the precious elixir.
According to the expanded eligibility criteria, residents who live or work in the counties of Contra Costa or Solano and are at least 50 years old will now be able to make an appointment for vaccination.
Elsewhere in the Bay Area, eligibility is still restricted to residents aged 65 and over, those aged 16-64 with disabilities and certain underlying health conditions and employees in certain sectors, including health, education and transportation.
“We are making good progress in vaccinating groups that are already eligible and we will now continue to prioritize the most vulnerable groups in our community more,” said Contra Costa County Health Officer, Dr. Chris Farnitano, in a statement.
Across the bay area, Contra Costa has made the most significant progress in vaccinating its already eligible residents. On Monday, more than a third of Contra Costa County residents aged 16 and over received at least one dose of the vaccine, including 96% of those who are at least 75 years old.
In comparison, only 69% of Santa Clara County residents aged 75 and over, 71% of San Francisco residents in that age group and 74% in Alameda County at that age received at least one dose, according to monitored data for each county.
Monday’s announcement is expected to almost double the number of vaccinated residents in Contra Costa County, as more than 235,000 county residents are 50 to 64 years old.
“We are looking forward to the next few months, when we will be able to eliminate the vaccine’s eligibility, when anyone and everyone is eligible,” said Diane Burgis, Chairman of the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors, in a written statement. “More and more doses of vaccine are arriving in the county each week, and we expect this trend to continue.”
Unlike other parts of the bay area that saw shortages, Contra Costa County experienced a significant amount of vaccines last week.
In addition to his weekly allocation of vaccines from the state, Contra Costa received 14,000 doses from the federal government last week under a new national program that aims to inoculate clinically underserved communities and disproportionately affected populations through the distribution of vaccines to a selected number of community health workers. federally qualified health centers. The unprecedented boost in the supply of vaccines has allowed Contra Costa to open thousands of additional consultations.
San Francisco, however, was grateful this week to see an increase of 3,000 doses in its regular distribution in the state – 16,260 doses compared to a recent average of 13,000 weekly doses.
The decision by certain counties to expand vaccine eligibility beyond the state mandate coincides with the steady decline in the number of COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations, a trend that has allowed more California counties to reopen to a greater extent.
In the bay area, Santa Clara, San Francisco and Marin counties are expected this week to enter the state’s orange reopening strip – the second most flexible level of restrictions on business and activities. San Mateo County last week became the first in the bay area to enter the orange level, allowing restaurants, museums, churches and cinemas to increase their capacities to half pre-pandemic levels.
Last week, several million Californians qualified for a coveted attempt, creating a bottleneck with a limited supply that cannot meet high demand.
On March 15, California began allowing 16- to 64-year-olds with disabilities and certain underlying health conditions to schedule vaccination appointments, although some Bay Area County health systems still do not have enough doses to accommodate them. .
Santa Clara County, for example, has not offered an appointment for the first dose through its health care system for more than three weeks. And for the second time in recent weeks, the county last week notified nearly 9,000 Kaiser patients that their scheduled vaccine appointments at county vaccination sites would be canceled due to a shortage of supplies.
“We know that this situation has created challenges and frustrations for patients whose referrals have been transferred, and the county has done everything it can to prevent this situation,” wrote a county spokesman by email.
The spokesman said on Monday that the allocation of vaccines from Santa Clara County for this week was “relatively stable” and “fell short of the number needed to cover all second doses and schedule any new first doses”.
Santa Clara County is not yet part of the vaccine program at the federal health center COVID-19 that Contra Costa County recently benefited from, but the spokesman said authorities had received a warning that county clinics will be added in the coming weeks.
Vaccine commitments against Costa
Qualified residents can request a vaccination appointment through Contra Costa County by filling out an online form here or by calling 833-829-2626.