“If we had more supplies, we could give three to four times more vaccines a day, immediately,” said Dr. Geoffrey Leung, of the University of Riverside Health System, to the Board of Supervisors Tuesday morning.
While it is not surprising that demand for the coronavirus vaccine is far outpacing supply, what bothered supervisors was that Riverside County was receiving fewer doses per capita than neighboring counties.
“In fact, I am absolutely amazed.
Per capita, we thought there were fair amounts going to our different counties. ”
Supervisor Jeff Hewitt
San Diego and Santa Clara counties received more vaccines per capita than Riverside counties, explained Kim Saruwatari, director of public health for Riverside County.
Both were “about 180 vaccines per 1,000 residents”, while Riverside County received 100 vaccines per 1,000 residents.
The reason? According to Saruwatari, the California Department of Public Health used an allocation methodology that includes analyzing the total population of health workers. San Diego County has about 2.5 times the number of health professionals as Riverside County.
“I would love to see your data that shows that any health care professional is anywhere near danger compared to someone who is an elderly person.” Hewitt said.
“This pandemic from day one served to flatten the curve, but also to isolate us enough not to kill our grandparents. Now, all of a sudden, this has become something about rescuers and healthcare workers, because somehow they have been elevated to a higher stage. If in fact their lives, hospitalization rates and death rates are the same, I have no problem with that. But we saw the numbers and I would love to see the justification for doing that ”
“Of course, AARP does not have the influence that many of these workers’ unions have in Sacramento, for nurses and doctors and things like that. I am absolutely shocked. “
SUPERVISOR JEFF HEWITT
“I am a little skeptical about explaining the state of dose proportions for wealthier counties that have more health workers as the justification for why poorer counties should not have as many doses available to their residents.” Supervisor Kevin Jeffries said.
“It smells like typical California bureaucrats favoring certain counties over others, but I can’t prove it, so I’m going to let the data speak for itself.”
Supervisor Kevin Jeffries
Jeffries noted that Los Angeles County did not receive more doses per capita than Riverside County, but was still concerned about the differences. “It only stinks if you are rich and have … more healthcare workers, get more doses, and the rest of you, good luck.”
“It’s been a constant problem for years,” said Supervisor V. Manuel Perez, “The Inland Empire, Riverside County and San Bernardino County have not always, unfortunately, received their share since the 1991 realignment, right, and we still continues with these struggles today. “
Perez would have liked the state to have provided the allocation criteria early in the process. “We thought it was based on the population.”
“I am grateful, of course, that our healthcare professionals can receive the vaccine, and our frontline employees who are in public safety to be able to receive their vaccines,” said Perez, but made reference to studies from other industries that are highly impacted, including farm workers, restaurant workers and supermarkets and warehouses.
Saruwatari said the state is now in transition to include those over 65 in the estimates, “so as this is happening, we will see this increase in allocation”.
“We have a large population of elderly people who live in Riverside County, especially in my district,” noted Perez.
Riverside County spokeswoman Brooke Federico explained the allocations in a statement:
“Vaccine allocations are based on priority population estimates for each county. Initially, this included health workers working in the county plus residents of Qualified Nursing Facilities / Long Term Care Facilities (SNFs / LTCFs) – than for the Riverside County totaled a population of 113,614 for the allocation denominator. Using this number as the denominator, we received 4.3% of the total vaccine allocated in California. In comparison, San Diego County had a health workforce and SNF / LTCF of 352,174 people and received 13.3% of the total vaccine allocated in California.
Three weeks ago, the CDPH also started to include more than 65 populations in the denominator and, starting with today’s first dose allocations, because the entities have so far received enough vaccine to cover their Phase 1A populations, these estimates will be eliminated from the denominator . Half of the Phase 1A denominator will be removed for the February 9th allocation and the other half will be removed for the February 16th allocation, so that the population over 65 will be the base of the denominator.
For Riverside County, our population of individuals aged 65 and over is 387,429 and we will receive 6.19% of the total vaccine allocation in California from our February 16 allocation. For comparison, San Diego County has 496,742 individuals aged 65 and over and will receive 7.94% of the total vaccine distribution as of February 16. “
Getting a vaccine
The vaccination scheduling portal can be accessed via
www.rivcoph.org/COVID-19-Vaccine. Anyone who needs help can also call the county 211 helpline. You can also send an email to [email protected]. County health officials say they believe they have staff at levels to respond to all messages.
How to take the test
Remember that you can get tested even if you have no symptoms. The test is available to all county residents.
You can now take a free trial at many Rite-Aids in the area. Click here for a complete list of stores and to schedule your appointment.
Click here to find the test site nearest you
Find county test locations
Stay up-to-date with the latest local coronavirus news, including reopening and closing, new case data, live press conferences and other updates at KESQ.com/Coronavirus or download the News Channel 3 app from the Apple Store and Google Play.