Aware of the risk it poses to its older residents, the state of California originally prioritized people over 75 over older people. In their initial vaccination scheduling system, people aged 75 and over were placed in Phase 1B, Level 1, while people aged 65 to 74 were placed in Phase 1B, Level 2.
That changed on January 13, when Newsom elevated all those elderly people to Tier 1. He was responding to widespread criticism that the state’s complicated classification system was one of the reasons why vaccine distribution was so inefficient in the most populous state from the country. The merger of the two age groups was seen as a form of simplification.
Newsom’s announcement set up a disconnect with Sonoma County, however. More than 20% of the county’s population is 65 or older, almost twice the state number. Although counties with younger populations believe they have enough vaccine to advance immunization for everyone over the age of 65, Sonoma County has concluded that supplies are not adequate for this at the moment.
Hospital clinics, like Sutter’s one opened this week at LBC, can set their own eligibility standards because their parent organizations purchase the vaccine directly from the state. But the county, which controls less than half of the doses administered locally, can also define qualifications for its doses.
It is a life-and-death decision. Public health data shows that people over 75 are responsible for 65% of COVID-19 deaths in Sonoma County, compared with 53% across the state.
That was enough to convince Mase to follow the more limited age criteria for Phase 1B, Level 1, and the county leaders aligned themselves with her.
“I don’t want the Board of Supervisors or any political group to decide who is next in line,” said county supervisor Chris Coursey this week at a public board meeting. “We are making this decision with our team of specialists, epidemiologists, people who understand that the way to save lives is to take care of the most vulnerable first. We will prioritize what the experts believe is the best way to help us in this life and death situation, and not who makes the most noise politically. “
Sonoma County is not alone. The counties of Napa, Mendocino, Marin, Solano, Humboldt and Santa Clara, among others, are all immunizing those over 75 years of age first, and Contra Costa was doing the same before moving recently to over 65 years of age.
Sonoma County plans to make this transition as well.
As of Monday, residents aged 70 and over will be able to receive the vaccine at county-backed clinics and 11 Safeway pharmacies, county health officials announced on Friday. But the state-run OptumServe website in Rohnert Park, for the time being, will continue to serve only 75 residents or more.
“These are our most vulnerable residents and we need to give them an advantage so they don’t miss the chance to get an interview with the vaccine,” said Lynda Hopkins, chairman of the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors, during a news conference. .
Officials also announced that the city’s newest vaccination clinic would open Tuesday at the Petaluma Campus of Santa Rosa Junior College. Supervisor David Rabbitt said that the initial appointments will be by invitation only and that the site should vaccinate about 300 people a day.
“But that could increase to 500 a day, depending on the vaccine supply,” he said. “In the uncertainty about the vaccine supply, we are never sure how much we receive from the state week after week.”
Authorities said vaccines for people aged 70 and over on Monday at Safeway stores are by appointment only and 20 doses a day will be available at individual supermarket pharmacies.
With the change in eligibility by age, officials said the clinics that administer the county’s vaccine supply are being encouraged to continue to make vaccines available to health professionals and first responders, prioritizing members of the general public aged 70 and over. Twenty percent of your commitments must be reserved for people aged 75 and over.
The current strategy raises questions, however. It is obvious that elderly people over 75 are dying at a much faster rate than other subgroups during the pandemic. But they also represent an overwhelming share of residents in long-term care facilities for the elderly, congregating environments that have proven to be breeding grounds for COVID-19 outbreaks. Some wonder if 75-year-olds are really much more vulnerable than 65-year-olds, if both are living independently.
About a third of COVID-19 deaths among the group of more than 75 occurred in congregational care, said Kate Pack, the county’s leading epidemiologist. But the data is incomplete. For another third of the data set, there was no information in the case files about where the deceased was living, Pack said.