The Bay Area vaccine hunters have traveled hundreds of miles, added their names to long waiting lists and refreshed dozens of times a day on dating websites – all to determine what shots are available, wherever and wherever.
And as of Monday, most of the people among the 55.7% of adults in California are 18 and older who received at least one COVID-19 vaccine shot, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In general, it was not them who had to swing to get a chance.
But if the goal of herd immunity is to be achieved, the next phase of the state’s massive vaccination effort could be a bigger order – to ensure hard-to-reach communities are reached and the reluctance to convince that vaccines can not only save their lives not, but also those of friends, family and community members.
To achieve the herd immunity to gain the upper hand over the pandemic, a significant portion of the population must become immune to the coronavirus.
“The general thrust of the state’s vaccination effort is going pretty well, thanks to the maturation of the system and a steady supply, but we need to get a lot more people who are fully vaccinated before we get there,” George Rutherford said. Professor of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at UC San Francisco.
One large group that has yet to be reached is elderly people who have not yet been given a chance due to technological or mobility issues. In the province of Santa Clara, about 24% of the residents aged 75 and over have not yet been fully vaccinated.
“Do not underestimate the logistical complications of vaccination of 86 or older,” Rutherford said. “Getting this group vaccinated is going to play a big role, perhaps through door-to-door services or pop-up clinics in the area.”
Like most counties in the Bay Area, Santa Clara County now offers a vaccination program where eligible residents can be vaccinated by a public health nurse or by a member of the local fire department in their own home. To be eligible, residents must show that they cannot leave the house without crutches, canes, wheelchairs, walkers, special transport or help from someone else. Eligible residents can book an appointment at 408-970-2818 or [email protected].
Another priority for healthcare providers is to reach communities that are most vulnerable to the disease, but that do not have the resources and fair access to vaccines.
While health departments and community organizations in the Bay Area have worked to eliminate vaccine barriers for low-income residents and color communities, the pressure will increase in the coming weeks and months.
In San Mateo County, where officials relied on pop-up vaccine clinics in neighborhoods excessively affected by COVID-19, changing clinical schedules and locations made it difficult for some residents to catch up.
Provincial officials say they plan to offer “more predictable, regular, locally accessible clinics that give residents more time and flexibility to participate” as more vaccines arrive in the coming weeks.
“With more predictability, we will also be able to address and respond to barriers to entry, such as transportation and registration support, with information specific to any resident,” a San Mateo County spokesman wrote in an email.
Community leaders in East San Jose have reported similar issues of restricted and distributed access. For example, a community vaccination clinic at William C. Overfelt High School is only open on weekends until 3 p.m.
According to Santa Clara County Deputy CEO Rocio Luna, the clinic should remain open overnight by the end of April.
“We are reversing our strategy to ensure that we make more appointments available in the evenings and on weekends,” Luna said Monday. “We know a lot of people are back at work and kids are back at school, so we work to make sure we do that.”
As for residents who may be hesitant about vaccines, organizations across the Bay are separating facts from fiction – giving residents the information they need to be comfortable planning an appointment.
Jessica Lehman, executive director of the Bay Area organization Senior & Disability Action, has been fighting for the past few months to get more vaccines to California with disabilities and help them book appointments. Part of the effort is to persuade those who may be hesitant to take the shots when they are available.
Earlier this month, Lehman organized a virtual hour-long COVID-19 vaccination session with speakers that included a doctor and a nurse from Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and a representative from the Alameda County Department of Health. They guided participants through the differences in the vaccines, their efficacy, the clinical trials for each vaccine, and how to discuss appointments.
The session prompted Ligia Montano, 55, of San Francisco to get her dose now. Montano said she tends to wait until the next time she visits her parents in Nicaragua to get a chance.
“I’m Latinx and have asthma and I do not trust large companies to do anything that will benefit my health,” she said in an interview.
But when General Hospital doctors explained things in an easy-to-understand way, like the ones she saw in Nicaragua, Montano said she opened up about the idea.
The next day, she walks to the Ping Yuen Center in Chinatown, San Francisco, and gets one of the last vaccines available for the day. Since then, she has tried to convey her experience to reassure others who are on the fence.
“I realized that I was actually more concerned about getting one of the COVID mutations that was really bad and that I was not getting the chance to fight it with my system,” she said. ‘Now I tell people that’ I think I did the right thing and I should consider it too. ”