The vaccine open season started unevenly in the Bay this week, with one mass vaccination center delivering a record number of shots, while other clinics could barely plan new appointments with little stock available.
The vaccination site at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara on Thursday broke the state record for most doses administered in one day by 12,000 shots, Santa Clara County Superintendent Cindy Chavez said Friday. The province was eligible for vaccine for anyone 16 years and older on Tuesday, but still got a big boost in interest on Thursday, when the state opened access to all people.
But health officials in neighboring San Mateo County said they could not operate the first-dose eligible clinics on Thursday or Friday. In Alameda province, which also expanded to all participants a few days before the state, officials said most appointments to the province’s major vaccination centers, including the fair, were days and weeks before the state expanded.
According to the California Department of Public Health, 1 million people went to the MyTurn vaccination portal on Thursday to try to book appointments.
“I was eager to get it and was very excited,” said Josie Fuentes, 25, a San Francisco resident who received her first shot Friday morning in downtown Moscone. Fuentes said it is relatively easy and quick to get the appointment. She discussed it Wednesday after receiving a notification from a Twitter bot watching the openings of the vaccine appointment.
Fuentes became one of 16.2 million Californians to receive at least one shot, the same day the state reached a significant milestone: 50% of people 16 years and older are now at least partially vaccinated. About 30% are fully vaccinated.
California’s rates are generally higher than the US; 39% of Americans are partially vaccinated and 24% are fully vaccinated, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
With nearly a third of the state population fully vaccinated, the California Department of Public Health has finally adopted CDC guidelines for activities that are now safe for those individuals. People who have been fully vaccinated can now get together, indoors or outdoors, without masks or physical distance.
They can also meet without masks in people who are not vaccinated, as long as all the people who are not vaccinated are from the same household and have a low risk of serious diseases. In other words: Vaccinated grandparents now have a blessing in embracing their unvaccinated grandchildren without masks.
“We feel that the CDC policy is the right one,” said Dr. San Francisco health official Susan Philip said in an interview before a state order with the new leadership was issued Thursday. “We know people probably do all these things.”
Philip and other local health officials have been asking the state for almost two weeks to update his order, as the CDC first issued its guidance for vaccines. San Francisco has written the relaxed restrictions tentatively in new orders that went into effect Thursday.
Public health experts were also eager for the state to accept the leadership of the CDC – partly as a motivation for even more people to be vaccinated. This is more important than ever before, as everyone is eligible and that the state promises that supply will increase next month.
But for now, the vaccine supply remains the biggest barrier to meeting demand and running clinics at their full capacity, Bay Area health officials said.
San Francisco’s COVID Command Center said there is a large demand for appointments on Thursday, though the Department of Health COVID-19 is eligible for vaccination for all 16-year-old residents and Tuesday. Some vaccines have reported long queues that are usually seen after a new group of residents are eligible, a commando spokesman said Friday.
San Francisco officials said Friday that they have been informed by the state that they should expect a 35% reduction in the vaccine supply for April, due to national supply chain problems and a larger share of the doses given to a federal allocation program. San Francisco received 10,000 doses this week and expects it next week.
San Mateo County officials said they had 11,150 doses this week.
“We do not have enough vaccine,” said Preston spokesman Preston Merchant.
Across the San Mateo Bridge, Alameda County on Friday offered a limited number of vaccinations, but only to residents living in high-priority zip codes that were excessively affected by COVID-19, state spokesman Neetu Balram , said.
In Napa County, public health officials were optimistic about the start of the open season, with the first clinic for anyone 16 and older opening at Meritage Resort & Spa.
“It’s going extremely well,” said Janet Upton, a spokeswoman for the province. She said the country was able to offer 1,400 appointments on Friday through a partnership with Kaiser.
Contra provincial officials said they were not experiencing any pressure or delays in their clinics and that they had several appointments available for residents of the country on Friday afternoon. The province also has no boarding clinics in Richmond and Antioch, country spokesman Karl Fischer said. Contra Costa County was the first in the region to be eligible last month.
“If there is a benchmark traffic, we made about 3,000 appointments online on Wednesday and picked it up within an hour,” Marin County spokeswoman Laine Hendricks said. “We are very pleased that so many people are looking for a vaccine that will bode well for Bay Health.”
Back at Moscone, Vincent Mack said it feels good to get his first shot.
“I really had to do it, just to protect everyone in the community and the people I work with,” Mack, 38, said. He works security at the Transamerica Pyramid building and will work during the pandemic. “I hope everyone gets their shots too and that we can get back to normal.”
Catherine Ho and Aidin Vaziri are staff writers of the San Francisco Chronicle. Email: [email protected] [email protected]