Because of the state’s low and unpredictable vaccine supply, Santa Clara County has transferred thousands of appointments, provincial officials said Wednesday.
About 8,500 appointments for Kaiser Permanent patients scheduled by the province between Thursday and March 21 will be transferred to Kaiser to reschedule.
The reason for the transfer is because the state has “assured” Kaiser that it will have sufficient vaccine for its members, while the province has received “no such commitment” for residents who are not insured and vulnerable.
Despite obtaining an additional award of 7,500 Johnson & Johnson vaccines, the country received only 3,000 doses than last week. This is because the country received 1,400 fewer Moderna shots and 3,510 fewer Pfizer vaccinations than it had the previous week, according to provincial data.
But this is not because the state has received less Moderna and Pfizer vaccine. On the contrary, the state received 29,900 more Moderna shots and 40,950 more Pfizer shots.
The state has allocated 40% of the vaccines to be targeted at 400 lower-income zip codes in the state, but no zip codes have been identified in Santa Clara County – that may explain why this week’s award was lower, County Testing and Vaccine Officer Dr. Marty Fenstersheib said during the regional meeting on Tuesday.
‘We are not included [400 ZIP codes] so our equity efforts are being jeopardized by the insufficient vaccines and the focus that the state has on everywhere other than us, “Fenstersheib said.
At a news conference last week, supervisor Cindy Chavez said the state ‘should treat everyone’ [counties] reasonably, “note the high and disproportionate COVID-19 positivity rates in East San Jose and Southern County.
The province has the capacity to vaccinate 12,000 to 15,000 people a day, but the restrictions on supply allow the province to give 8,000 shots daily, Fenstersheib said.
All the people transferred are, according to Kaiser members, under the age of 75, according to the province’s health department.
The Department of Public Health also noted that Kaiser should plan priorities to plan vaccination of vaccines through the system for the patients being transferred.
“The decision to refer these patients back to Kaiser for their vaccine appointments was taken after careful consideration of the available options,” the Department of Public Health said in a statement. “This transfer of appointments will prevent additional cancellations from vaccination clinics and appointments.”
According to the province’s emergency operations center, the province has not canceled any appointments since Wednesday due to the vaccination of the vaccine.
The province maintains that the top priority in terms of vaccination is to ensure access to vaccines for communities most affected by COVID-19.