Reaching Biden’s May 1 goal questioned

Gov. Newsom stops short of saying California would let all get a shot by president’s deadline

Gov. Gavin Newsom and California’s top health official love the sound of President Joe Biden’s plan to make all adults eligible for coronavirus vaccines by May 1.

But they’re stopping short of agreeing that California will throw the vaccination doors open to everyone just seven weeks from Saturday.

Instead, responses to Biden’s Thursday evening speech from Newsom and Dr. Mark Ghaly, secretary of the state’s Health and Human Services Agency, have put the onus back on the federal government to follow through on that pledge.

“We share the president’s commitment to ensuring all adults who want a vaccine can get one,” Newsom said in a statement Thursday. “We look forward to learning more about the president’s plan and working together to make this important goal a reality.”

Asked during a briefing Friday about Biden’s vision of marking “independence” from COVID-19 by celebrating the Fourth of July with backyard gatherings, Ghaly said, “We’re not circling a date quite yet — but we’re ready for something around that time if all of these different pieces come together as we all hope.”

A key piece, according to Ghaly, will be providing California with far more COVID-19 vaccines.

The state now administers 200,000 to 240,000 shots per day, Ghaly said, but will need to give out perhaps twice that many — 350,000 to 400,000 each day — to get closer to

Biden’s goal.

“Our job in the state is to be ready for whatever the federal government (and) the manufacturers can send us, and that is what we’re working hard to be ready for,” Ghaly said.

Tight supplies have meant those who are eligible to get shots now — including people 65 and older, food and agriculture workers, educators and healthcare workers — sometimes struggle to book appointments,