Because of the state’s low and unpredictable vaccine supply, Santa Clara County transferred thousands of consultations, county officials said on Wednesday.
Some 8,500 Kaiser Permanente patient appointments scheduled across the county between Thursday and March 21 will be transferred to Kaiser for rescheduling.
The reason for the transfer is because the state has “assured” Kaiser that it will have enough vaccine for its members, while the county “has not received such a pledge” for uninsured and vulnerable residents, county officials said.
Despite receiving an additional allocation of 7,500 Johnson & Johnson vaccines, the county received just 3,000 more doses than it did last week. That’s because the county received 1,400 fewer vaccines from Moderna and 3,510 fewer vaccines from Pfizer than the previous week, according to county data.
But not because the state has received less vaccine Moderna and Pfizer. On the contrary, the state received 29,900 more Modern photos and 40,950 more Pfizer photos.
The state has allocated 40% of vaccines to 400 low-income postal codes in the state, but no postal codes have been identified in Santa Clara County – which may explain why its allocations were lower this week. Officer Dr. Marty Fenstersheib said at Tuesday’s County Council of Supervisors meeting.
“We are not included in this [400 ZIP codes] so, once again, our equity efforts are undermined by insufficient vaccines and the focus that the state has elsewhere but on us, “said Fenstersheib.
At a press conference last week, supervisor Cindy Chavez said the state needed to “treat everyone [counties] reasonably “, noting the high and disproportionate positivity rates for COVID-19 in East San Jose and South County.
The county has the capacity to inoculate 12,000 to 15,000 people a day, but supply restrictions allow the county to administer 8,000 vaccines a day, said Fenstersheib.
All transferred persons are Kaiser members under the age of 75, according to the county’s public health department.
The public health department also noted that Kaiser will prioritize scheduling vaccine appointments through its system for patients being transferred.
“The decision to transfer these patients back to Kaiser for vaccination appointments was made after a careful analysis of the options available,” the public health department said in a statement. “This transfer of consultations will prevent additional clinic cancellations and vaccination appointments.”
As of Wednesday, the county had not canceled any appointments because of the vaccine supply, only transferred Kaiser’s 8,500 patients, according to the county’s emergency operations center.
The municipality states that its main priority in terms of inoculation is to guarantee access to the vaccine for the communities most impacted by COVID-19.