Even with parts of California moving to increase the number of those who can get the COVID-19 vaccine, authorities continue to preach patience as demand for doses still outstrips supply.
A sign of this challenging contrast came on Wednesday, when Los Angeles County announced that some teachers, food and agriculture workers and the first respondents would start receiving the COVID-19 vaccine in two to three weeks.
This brought applause. But hours later, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said that a shortage of available vaccines would force authorities to close five city-run vaccination stations for at least two days, starting on Friday.
Until significantly larger shipments of the two vaccines used in the U.S. start to roll consistently, officials say it will still take time to finish vaccinating those who are eligible now, let alone the millions of Californians who still need to get in line.
“With vaccine supply very limited and time uncertainty for increased production, a realistic and carefully developed plan to expand vaccination availability to these additional sectors is being developed,” said the County Health Director. LA, Barbara Ferrer, on Wednesday.
Some officials are concerned about expanding the vaccine’s eligibility until more seniors are inoculated.
Orange County, for example, will continue to focus on residents aged 65 and over for the next two weeks, said Dr. Clayton Chau, director of the Health Agency and county health officer, on Tuesday. Other groups already qualified for the vaccine in Orange County are healthcare workers, residents of long-term care settings and law enforcement officials who work in areas with high rates of COVID-19, such as Anaheim and Santa Ana.
“Adding more people [to those eligible to get the vaccine] it will give the elderly fewer opportunities to be vaccinated, ”Chau told the county council of supervisors on Tuesday. “And I just want to remind people that they are the most vulnerable population.”
What are the changes in LA County?
Details on how to expand vaccine eligibility for teachers and staff in LA county are still being worked out, but the change represents a significant expansion of vaccine distribution in the county. So far, only health professionals and those who live in long-term care facilities or are at least 65 years old have been able to make appointments.
With most senior citizens in LA County still waiting to receive their vaccines, authorities have warned that it will take time to administer doses to a large number of educators, childcare workers, food and agriculture workers and emergency and police services.
More than 1.3 million angelenos who work in these areas would be eligible to be vaccinated. They include about 668,000 teachers, childcare workers and other educators; at least 548,000 food and agriculture workers, including grocery workers; and about 155,000 law enforcement workers, in courts and dispatch offices.
About 2.2 million LA County residents are already eligible, and the county still has significant work to do to clear that queue.
Of the approximately 4.4 million doses that LA County would need to vaccinate those already in line, the county received only 1.28 million doses, 1.05 million of which were administered last week.
Ferrer said that about 80% of the elderly have not yet received a single dose, and both vaccines in use – Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna – require two injections, taken weeks apart.
What will future supplies look like?
LA county officials expect vaccine supplies to remain limited in the near future, at just about 200,000 doses per week. And since remittances have to be divided between the first and second doses, there will be a natural limit on how many people can start their vaccination regimen.
Authorities, however, expect the shortage to diminish in the coming months – particularly with the planned arrival of the Johnson & Johnson single-dose vaccine, assuming it obtains approval from U.S. drug regulators. Two other potential vaccines are also on the horizon.
“So for now, it will take some time to reach everyone. And in these times of vaccine shortages, we need to ask everyone to be careful not to wait for their turn, ”said Ferrer.
Los Angeles County, by far the most populous in the country, saw its vaccine shipments spin wildly last month, making it difficult for authorities to accurately calculate the amount of supplies they will have. About 193,950 doses arrived in the week of January 11, but 168,575 were delivered the following week and only 137,725 arrived the following week.
More recently, the county has received 184,625 doses – a number that is expected to rise to more than 218,000 this week.
Officials across California regretted the limited and variable vaccine shipments they received, saying they have the ability to deliver significantly more vaccines.
“Supply is the problem. That is the constraint, ”said Governor Gavin Newsom this week. “So when you ask me, ‘What are we doing to vaccinate this group, that group, and this group, and that group?’ Now it is a matter of scarcity. It is a matter of supply. “
What is happening in the vaccine centers administered by the city?
Having exhausted its supply of the first doses of the Moderna vaccine, Los Angeles will temporarily close its drive-through and walk-up vaccination centers, including the largest site at Dodger Stadium, Garcetti said on Wednesday. The centers will remain closed until at least Saturday.
The mayor described the city’s vaccine supply as uneven and unpredictable: This week the city received 16,000 doses, just about 3,000 more than city officials administered, on average, per day at the five inoculation sites. In comparison, the city secured 90,000 doses last week and 29,000 the week before, he said.
Anyone who received the first dose of Moderna will receive a second injection, said Garcetti. The city has administered 293,252 vaccines to date, using 98% of the doses it received, he said.
The city will maintain open mobile vaccination clinics that have been sent to areas of southern Los Angeles, where residents have been infected and killed by the virus at disproportionate rates, the mayor said.
Garcetti said he hopes to reopen city-run drive-through centers on Tuesday or Wednesday.