You have more questions about vaccines and Lindsey Mendez – a member of the county’s Vaccine Task Force – has more answers about vaccines. Addressed: State equity efforts and how they are being implemented here, Pfizer / Moderna versus J&J, the next contract with Blue Shield to serve as a statewide vaccine manager and more.
Video above, approximate transcript below.
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Thank you for joining us for the March 11 media availability with the family nurse and member of the Humboldt County Vaccine Task Force, Lindsey Mendez. Lindsey would like to start with a brief message about the Janssen or Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
Hello, Humboldt County. This is Lindsey Mendez again, the Family Nurse Practitioner of Communicable Diseases in Public Health. Today I am going to talk about the vaccine and I would like to make a little introduction again about the efforts that the Department of Public Health is now making with the Janssen vaccine. I would like the community to understand that, at this point, the Janssen vaccine being a single dose will be very useful when looking at rural populations who are having trouble entering clinics and also homeless people in shelters. We are currently partnering with our other health care providers in the area to put these vaccines in the guns this week and next week. So, we are very excited.
From the North Coast News: The health official said earlier this week that some postal codes that fall in the lowest percentage of California’s healthy places index are in Humboldt and will be prioritized by the state in terms of vaccine distribution. Where are these postal codes located? How is this impacting our weekly vaccine distribution in the state?
yea. At the moment, the state is using allocation tools to see how we can have better equity in areas of certain zip codes. In this heritage mapping, they are recommending that we use 20% of our doses in certain regions of Humboldt County. That said, the regions are very broad. Throughout the municipality it is in areas where we are already vaccinating mainly. We are trying to get further into the southern Humboldt and eastern regions, but in general the postcodes include Eureka, Arcata and parts of SoHum, such as Petrolia and Blocksburg, and then in the northern regions, such as Klamath. We will be working on it, just as we have been doing with our clinics.
From the North Coast News: A new Israeli study shows that it appears that Pfizer is more effective than previously thought. Could this be the case with Moderna and Johnson and Johnson? How did J&J achieve the level of effectiveness at once?
The way the Janssen vaccine is created with a DNA vaccine, which is an adenovirus vector vaccine, and the way peak proteins are introduced into the body, makes it a one-shot vaccine as it develops over time and, at this point, it is not necessary to have a booster dose. And I will say this again: Johnson Johnson grows slowly over the weeks when you have it, which is a little different from the mRNA vaccine, but it is still one hundred percent reducing serious death and hospitalization for COVID-19. With the Pfizer vaccine and the Israeli research that is taking place, because they have been studying transmission, really what we are talking to Pfizer is that they are reporting how they are comparing cases between those who are fully vaccinated and those who have not. was vaccinated and analyzing its effectiveness in preventing the transmission of COVID-19. This study was showing 90% at the time. So with that, you should understand that the research is still going on with Moderna and Janssen and we will be getting more information as we go along.
From North Coast News: Alaska has now become the first state to open vaccine eligibility at age 16. Do you think the criteria for taking the photo will change any time soon in California? How big is the benefit of expanding eligibility to a younger age?
I understand that at the moment Alaska has expanded its population and the state of California is considering April 1 as a date on which we will expand the population and who can be vaccinated at what level. That said, I must remind the public that the Pfizer vaccine can be administered to 16-year-olds, but no other vaccine, such as Moderna or Janssen, is currently approved for this. With that said, we will also remind the public that, even if it is open to a wider range of ages and occupations, we will be looking at risk factors and age, as people are waiting to be vaccinated in California.
From the North Coast Journal: Has the county received further clarification from Blue Shield or the state about how the allocation and distribution of the vaccine is likely to change when Blue Shield takes over as a third-party administrator next month?
The public health department is currently holding meetings with Blue Shield and we are talking to our allocation managers and account managers who will be assisting us with the allocation process in Humboldt County specifically for providers in this area who will be administering the vaccine. This allocation process will go through Blue Shield for each provider that can apply the vaccine in Humboldt County – I must specifically say the COVID-19 vaccine in Humboldt County – and we will also hire the public health department with Blue Shield so that we can distribute vaccines through them. With that said, we don’t know exactly how they will break down their allocation process with local health jurisdictions and providers as well, and we will know more in the coming weeks.
From the North Coast Journal: How does the state that focuses on vaccinating residents in the lowest quartile of ZIP codes for the Healthy Places Index change Humboldt County’s vaccination strategy? How is the county working to identify and prioritize residents in those postal codes that qualify for the vaccine?
This is a big question and, fortunately, we have been working on these equality plans since the start of the vaccination task force, when the COVID-19 vaccine was arriving in Humboldt County. Therefore, in recent months, we have been opening clinics in areas to ensure equity. We have administered vaccines at clinics in Willow Creek and Garberville and in Redway. We have done mass vaxes in Arcata and Eureka to ensure that we can reach populations that we normally would not be able to reach. We look forward to expanding our clinics in the southern and eastern regions and even in the northern regions to obtain populations that may have transportation problems. Therefore, we are excited to see, with the Blue Shield partnership, how this will move forward with its measures of performance equity.
From the North Coast Journal: Public Health reported this week that a quarter of those currently eligible have already been fully vaccinated locally. At the same time, the county announced a new class of eligible people – those aged 65 and over – with food and farm workers and people with comorbidities that are expected to be eligible in the coming weeks. Are there logistical and equity concerns about making so many people eligible for vaccination when the supply remains so limited? If so, what are they and how is the county working to overcome these challenges?
This is a very important topic that we discuss daily on our vaccination committees. As we open up populations that can be vaccinated, as wonderful as that is because our goal is to have collective immunity and end the pandemic, we are also very aware that there are specific people in our population who are the most vulnerable to more fragile and we should pay attention to that as a public health department and be good administrators of our vaccine. We are actively working to vaccinate people who may not be able to leave the house very well or people who are experiencing homelessness and we are also looking for the best way to vaccinate people who work in areas such as agriculture or the factory. Therefore, we will continue to have active conversations about this.
From the North Coast Journal: If the county magically received enough vaccine doses tomorrow to vaccinate all adult residents of Humboldt County, what would be the best public health estimate of how long it would take to get all those vaccines? Currently, what is the county’s maximum vaccination capacity per day?
At the moment, it is very difficult to provide an exact number of what the maximum amount of vaccination per day would be, due to the number of professionals who are helping us to vaccinate in various places, from pharmacies to hospitals. What we’ve seen is that when we do mass vaxes – mass vaccination clinics – across the county, whether it’s a public health department or other providers, we’ve noticed that our maximum capacity is just over a thousand right now for a mass vax clinic. With that said, other people are generally vaccinating daily in other areas on a smaller scale.
From KMUD: Can you talk about the different efficacy rates for all three approved vaccines?
yea. At the moment, the CDC is informing us that the Pfizer vaccine is 95% effective, Moderna with 94% effective and Janssen with 67%.
From KMUD: What is currently being done to ensure that our Latinx community receives vaccines?
The Humboldt County Department of Public Health considers the Latinx community to be the highest priority at the moment. As I said last week, we are actively recruiting Spanish-speaking people who are interpreters and may be vaccinators or administrators or other staff needed to run a vaccination clinic to work in our clinic. I would like to reassure the community that public health is having a lot of meetings right now with the community’s stakeholders to help us vaccinate everyone equally in Humboldt County.
From KMUD: Who are the preferred recipients of Johnson and Johnson’s single injection vaccine?
Due to the CDC’s recommendations on how we can best use a single dose vaccine, at this point we decided to use the vaccine with people who may have transportation problems, they may not be able to see a doctor promptly, or people who work in certain areas. facilities, such as agricultural centers and factories.
From Red Headed Blackbelt: Can you give us an update on how vaccines are being distributed in reference to the local research that many people have returned. Is the research proving useful in helping to coordinate vaccination appointments?
Yes, absolutely. From the information I have received from the Joint Information Center, the forms of interest and the surveys that have been filled out have helped them fill out clinics and put people on waiting lists. It also helped to close the divide between those who may not have devices and need help with scheduling. The Joint Information Center would like to remind you that you can access its website at any time to search for the form of interest in English and Spanish at humboldtgov.org and, again, if you have problems, you can call them.
From Red Headed Blackbelt: Has the public health department received feedback from community members regarding the recently announced planned closure of the Redwood Memorial work and delivery unit?
Thanks Kym, but no, this is not a vaccine question and I cannot answer today.