“If we had more stock, we could immediately do three to four times as many vaccines a day,” said Dr. Geoffrey Leung of the Riverside University Health System told the board of supervisors Tuesday morning.
While this is no surprise, the demand for the coronavirus vaccine is far greater than the supply, but what upset regulators was that Riverside County receives fewer doses per capita than neighboring provinces.
“I am just amazed.
Per capita we thought that fair amounts were going to our different countries. ”
Supervisor Jeff Hewitt
San Diego County and Santa Clara County received a greater number of vaccines per capita than Riverside County, explained Kim Saruwatari, director of public health in Riverside County.
Both were ‘about 180 vaccines per 1,000 inhabitants’, while Riverside County received 100 vaccines per 1,000 inhabitants.
The reason? According to Saruwatari, the California Department of Public Health has used an allocation methodology that includes the total population of health workers. San Diego County has about 2.5 times the number of health workers that Riverside County does.
“I would like to see their data showing that any healthcare worker is near danger compared to someone who is an older person.” Hewitt said.
‘This pandemic since day one has been to flatten the curve, but also to isolate us enough so that we did not kill our grandparents. All of a sudden it’s about first responders and people in health care, because somehow they have risen to a higher stage. If their lives, their hospitalization rates and their death rates are indeed equal, I have no problem with this at all. But we have seen the numbers and I would like to see the justification. “
‘AARP does not seem to have the influence that many of the unions in Sacramento do for nurses and doctors and stuff like that. I am absolutely shocked. ”
SUPERVISOR JEFF HEWITT
“I’m a little skeptical about the state’s statement about the relationship between doses and richer provinces with higher health workers than the justification why poorer provinces should not have as many doses available to their residents.” Supervisor Kevin Jeffries said.
“It just smells like typical California bureaucrats who prefer certain provinces over others, but I can not prove it, so I let the data speak for itself.”
Supervisor Kevin Jeffries
Jeffries noted that Los Angeles County did not receive more doses per capita than Riverside County, but was still concerned about the differences. “It only smells bad when you’re rich and you have a larger number of health workers, you get more doses, and the rest of you, strength.”
‘This has been an ongoing problem for years,’ said Supervisor V. Manuel Perez. ‘Unfortunately, the Home Range, the County of Riverside and the Province of San Bernardino have not always received their fair share, but we are going back to 1991. , and we continue the struggle today. ”
Perez wished the state had provided the award criteria earlier in the process. “We thought it was population – based.”
“I appreciate, of course, that our health workers can receive the vaccine, and that our front-line public safety workers can receive their vaccines,” Perez said, referring to studies of other industries that are highly affected, including farm workers. restaurant workers and those in grocery stores and warehouses.
Saruwatari said the state is now taking into account the ages of 65+. ‘
“We have a large population of seniors living in Riverside County, especially in my district,” Perez said.
Riverside County spokesman Brooke Federico explained the awards in a statement:
“The allocation of vaccines is based on the population estimates for each province. It initially included health workers working in the country, plus residents of skilled nursing / long-term care facilities (SNFs / LTCFs) – which totaled Riverside County’s 113,614. Using the number as the denominator, we received 4.3% of the total vaccine awarded in California, compared to a health care and SNF / LTCF workforce of 352,174 people. had and 13.3% of the total vaccine awarded in California.
Three weeks ago, CDPH also began to include 65+ populations in the denominator, starting with the allocation of the first dose of today, because entities have so far received enough vaccine to cover their phase 1A populations, the estimates from the denominator will be phased. Half of the Phase 1A denominator will be removed for the February 9 allocation and the remaining half will be removed for the February 16 allocation, so that the 65+ population will be the base in the denominator.
For Riverside County, our population of individuals is 65 and older 387,429 and we receive 6.19% of the total vaccine grant in California from our February 16 award. By comparison, San Diego County has 496,742 individuals 65 years and older and will receive 7.94% of the total vaccine award as of February 16th. “
Get vaccinated
The portal for making an appointment for vaccination is available via
www.rivcoph.org/COVID-19- Vaccination. Anyone in need of help can also call the province’s 211 helpline. You can also email [email protected]. Official health officials say they believe they are manned at levels to respond to all messages.
How to be tested
Remember, you can be tested, even if you do not have symptoms. Tests are available to all residents of the country.
You can now take a free trial at many Rite-Aids in the area. click here for a complete list of stores and to plan your appointment.
Click here to find the nearest test site
Find Province Test Sites
Stay up to date with the latest local coronavirus news, including reopening and closing, new case data, live news conferences and other updates at KESQ.com/Coronavirus or download the News Channel 3 app in the Apple Store and Google Play.