Amid the closure of the state’s largest vaccination site Covid-19 due to a sharp decline in supply, California health officials announced Friday that the state will soon allow another 4 to 6 million residents to qualify. There are currently 13 million people in the state who are eligible for vaccination.
According to a “supplier bulletin” sent by the state to medical professionals on Friday:
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‘Beginning March 15, healthcare providers can use their clinical judgment to treat individuals aged 16-64 years who are considered to be at greatest risk for disease and death from COVID-19 due to one or more of the following serious health issues. conditions. ”
These conditions include:
-Cancer, currently with debilitating or immunocompromised Chronic kidney disease, stage 4 or higher
-Chronic lung disease, dependent on oxygen
-Downs Syndrome
-Immun-compromised state (weakened immune system) due to solid organ transplantation
-Pregnancy
-Cystic disease
Heart disease, such as heart failure, coronary artery disease or cardiomyopathy (excludes hypertension)
Severe obesity (body mass index ≥ 40 kg / m2)
-Type 2 diabetes mellitus with hemoglobin A1c level higher than 7.5%
Of …
-If the individual is likely to develop serious life-threatening illness or death due to COVID-19 infection
– Acquisition of COVID-19 limits the ability of the individual to receive ongoing care or services that are essential for their well-being and survival.
-If the provision of adequate and timely COVID care will be particularly difficult due to the individual’s disability
See the vendor bulletin here.
The announcement comes on the same day that operations at Dodger Stadium – the state’s largest vaccination site – are being closed due to a lack of vaccination. Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said Wednesday that the vaccine’s vaccine had run out because the city’s grant fell more than 80 percent week-on-week.
‘This week we only received 16,000 new doses. “It’s about the number of new doses we give every day,” he said. “It’s 90,000 lower than last week. This is unacceptable. ”
Meanwhile, according to The Fresno Bee, The Fresno County grant this week doubled to 19,000 doses. Last week, the province received 8,000.
When asked this week by Governor Gavin Newsom whether the new operation in Fresno could allow cannabis to be cannibalized from other sites in the area, he replied: ‘Everything is dynamic. It depends on what the state of California gets. Again, the state does not have doses of vaccines. The federal government distributes the vaccines through their networks. ”
This is a response that the governor has repeatedly given and insists that the state is not the middleman and that the distribution takes place directly from the federal government to suppliers, as with the seasonal flu vaccine. But what Garcetti noticed was that the state’s push to expand vaccination sites is drying up a pool of vaccines that are already scarce. Currently, all Californians older than 65 are eligible.
More specifically, asked if the increasing prevalence of vaccination sites may have contributed to the decline in supply that Garcetti noted: ‘It’s a bit of Hunger Games out there. We do a kind of ‘all the above approach’. I think part of this is that we went to so many places without the offer matching it, that you saw some of the core sites … like ours and the mega sites in the country, do not have that much offer. ‘
Asked on Friday about concerns about the demand for vaccine versus demand, administrative officials said the hope is that supply will increase by the time the suitability pool and distribution network also increase. It’s not out of the question that President Joe Biden this week announced an agreement for another 200 million doses of vaccine.
The state is pushing for a third party to help centralize the distribution of vaccines. Although the deal has not yet been announced, Newsom has promised that it will come soon. On Friday, dr. Mark Ghaly, director of health and human services, said officials would announce the “next age phase” when the third-party partner arrives.
About the time when all Californians are eligible for vaccination, a time frame has been lifted in the spring or early summer, but given the unknowns about the provision of vaccines, administrative officials say the timing for such fitness is “now” very unclear. .
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