Only about 35% of the doses of the COVID-19 vaccine that arrived in California have so far been administered, a rate that Governor Gavin Newsom acknowledged on Monday “is not good enough” as he promised new funds and efforts to speed up implementation.
California received just under 1.3 million doses of vaccine, but just over 454,000 people received the vaccines, according to figures presented by Newsom.
Although he regularly stated that the distribution of the long-awaited vaccines would increase more quickly over time, he said the process, up to this point, “has been very slow, I know, for many of us”.
Newsom did not give a clear answer during a press conference to questions about the cause of the lag, only promising “a much more aggressive stance” and additional details in the coming days.
“We want to see 100% of what is received immediately administered in the arms of people, and that is a challenge,” he said during a briefing. “It is a challenge across the country – it is a challenge, in that sense, across the rest of the world. But this is not an excuse. “
The government’s ability to deliver vaccines quickly and effectively is critical to California’s fight against the virus and a critical test for Newsom. Although its original order to stay at home helped to suppress the virus at the beginning of the pandemic, the state is now experiencing one of the highest transmission rates in the country.
Vaccine delivery was slower than predicted in the United States. In California, the complicated effort has been hampered by several federal, state and local rules that govern the process for healthcare professionals to prioritize patients and administer vaccines, said Matt Willis, public health officer for Marin County.
Compared to a “come and go” approach to delivering a standard flu vaccine, the COVID-19 vaccine presents a “logistically and operationally more complex” undertaking for an already stressed out state health system, he said. To administer the vaccine, providers must be approved by the state. Each person who receives a vaccine must be determined to belong to the appropriate level group and registered in a data management system to ensure that they receive an additional dose on time, among numerous other obstacles.
“Our bandwidth is really restricted at the moment,” said Willis. “The infrastructure that would normally be dedicated to prioritizing the vaccine distribution plan is overloaded with peak cases.”
Another hiccup that emerged when the vaccine was launched was to ensure that doses were not wasted. The two vaccines that are available in the United States – one from Pfizer-BioNTech and the other from Moderna – are packaged in vials that contain multiple doses, and each vial has a limited shelf life of approximately six hours after opening.
State officials have pledged to punish those who try to abuse their power or position to enter the vaccination queue ahead of schedule – a warning that has caused some providers to hesitate in administering the remaining doses to those outside the first-line group of health workers and residents of long-term care facilities, such as nursing homes.
In some cases, workers outside the front line were offered the vaccine when a surplus occurred after all eligible employees were granted access. Redlands Community Hospital, in San Bernardino County, recently said that several employees who were not on the front line received extra doses. According to state guidelines released last month, health departments and facilities can offer vaccines to people in low-priority groups when demand decreases and doses are about to expire.
This week, management released what Willis described as a “correct course” to give local health departments more latitude to widely vaccinate health workers, rather than following previous state guidance to prioritize primary care clinics rather than specialized clinics, for example.
Dr. Mark Ghaly, California’s secretary of health and human services, said the federal government gives California a weekly distribution of vaccines and the state determines which counties will receive those doses. Local jurisdictions work with healthcare professionals in their area and vaccines are shipped directly from manufacturers to vaccination sites.
Ghaly also said that the state is working to clarify that vaccinators should not waste the remaining doses.
“The bottom line is that there are many complexities to the vaccine initiative and we want to ensure that the state of California does not contribute to that complexity,” said Ghaly.
Ghaly said the state will continue to prioritize the most vulnerable populations due to their exposure to the virus and potential health risks.
“We don’t want this prioritization to be diminished in any way, while continuing to encourage rapid and effective vaccination in our communities,” he said.
When it comes to law enforcement, Newsom said, “we’re just looking for gross negligence: people who are jumping the line who know they shouldn’t be jumping, people looking after people with resources and influence, not the rest of us.”
“We have a lot of people who want to take this photo,” he said, “and the key is to make sure that, although we are applying the rules of the road, we are not just imposing common sense and the energy of the speaker: ‘Look, no I want to waste that dose. Why don’t I give it to someone? ‘”
State officials are also using research data to determine how many front-line workers are refusing the COVID-19 vaccine, Newsom said on Monday.
LA County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said on Monday that there is no “system of registration that tracks workers who decide to wait” or refuse the vaccine.
Some counties across the state told The Times last week that, based on anecdotal evidence, 40% to 50% of eligible frontline workers refused the vaccine. The hesitation affected health professionals in hospitals, as well as employees in nursing homes.
In order to speed up the pace of vaccinations, Newsom said that his government is working to increase the number of distribution sites and allow dentists, pharmacy technicians and other professionals to administer vaccines, while increasing the use of the National Guard. California. He pledged to reveal more details “about some new strategies for dealing with some of the obstacles” soon.
Newsom said the budget proposal he would present to the state legislature later this week included about $ 300 million to support vaccination efforts, financing logistics, a public education campaign and other needs.
The governor said 611,500 more doses of vaccine are scheduled to be shipped to California next week.
Money and Shalby reported from Los Angeles. Luna reported from Sacramento.