A California health official said Wednesday it could take just four to five months to complete COVID-19 vaccinations for 65-year-olds and older people, though there are hopes the timeline under Biden’s government will improve.
Dr. Erica Pan said the projection is based on the state population of about 6.2 million people aged 65 and older. The goal is to vaccinate 70% of the people, or 4.34 million elderly people, with two doses.
With the current allocations from the federal government, the state receives about 400,000 doses per week, or 500,000 in a good week. At this rate, it can take until June to inject shots into the arms of the elderly.
“We do not know when the supply will increase, but it’s about what we got,” Pan told a state vaccine advisory committee. “I know that from 20 to 22 weeks we make an estimate of our age 65 and older … What we all need to achieve together is as much vaccination in the arms as possible.”
Pan said vaccination of the elderly is of cardinal importance as it is disproportionately affected by the virus; 61 years and older are 65% of all admissions to intensive care units and 83% of all deaths.
As California struggles to meet the challenge of vaccinating everyone waiting for them, officials are pinning their hopes on President Joe Biden’s promise to increase vaccination resources. There is hope that the state’s vaccination rate will accelerate.
“Under Biden’s government, our country has a chance to defeat this virus,” Senator Scott Wiener in California said Wednesday.
Dr. George Rutherford, a professor of epidemiology and head of the Division of Infectious Diseases and Global Epidemiology at UCSF, is hopeful that the rollout of vaccines will improve in the coming weeks under a new administration. “I suspect things will accelerate quickly soon,” Rutherford said.
A recent obstacle during the deployment was to stop the administration of a group of Moderna vaccine after some people became ill.
California said Wednesday that it is safe to reuse the vaccine, making more than 300,000 doses available to provinces, cities and hospitals struggling to obtain supplies.
Associated Press contributed to this story.