Concern over shot shortage, virus variants
Some Bay Area counties seeing their case numbers creep up
Even with California hitting a major pandemic milestone — opening COVID-19 vaccination appointments to everyone 50 and older — Bay Area health officials painted a sobering picture Thursday as they warned residents about the continued spread of troubling virus variants and vaccine shortages.
Middle-aged Californians newly eligible for shots scrambled for coveted appointments, sometimes getting turned away because of a lack of supply. At the same time, experts warned of an alarming rise in COVID-19 variant infections. It’s a “race between the variants and the vaccine,” said Santa Clara County Health Officer Dr. Sara Cody. But throughout the Bay
Area, team vaccine has been handicapped by a dearth of shots.
“We’re back in a bit of a precarious place as far as our ability to curb this pandemic,” Cody said, noting that all four of the most concerning virus mutations are circulating in her county, which later Thursday opened up thousands of first-dose appointments for the first time in a month. “We all have cabin fever, we all want to get out, we all want to get back to our lives. But we can’t do that quite yet.”
Gov. Gavin Newsom acknowledged vaccine challenges as he got his own COVID-19 shot Thursday.
“Even though we’re lifting the eligibility, bringing down the age to 50, (and) in two weeks everyone 16 and over, that doesn’t mean April 16 everyone who wants a vaccine will have been vaccinated,” he said. “It still will take a number of months to get to that point.”
California Health & Human Services Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly administered Newsom’s shot of the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine at a Los Angeles mall turned vaccination site, as members of the media watched.
“One and done,” 53-yearold Newsom said before Ghaly rolled up the governor’s sleeve and injected his right arm. “I have been looking forward to this for many, many months.”
Not everyone was so lucky in their efforts to secure a vaccination appointment.
“I’m convinced it is a giant April Fool’s joke,” 56-year-old Jan Derrickson from Marin wrote to this news organization.
“It’s not only frustrating, it’s just darn irritating I guess is the only nice word I can use,” said Jane Goldbach, of San Jose. She had been trying without success to book an appointment for her 55-year-old son, who has learning disabilities and lives with her. Striking an ominous note, Santa Clara County health officials on Thursday warned residents to avoid travel, continue wearing face masks and avoid indoor activities with others even as businesses continue to reopen. As of March 27, there were 92 confirmed cases of the United Kingdom variant in the Bay Area’s most populous county, three confirmed cases of the South Africa variant, one case of the Brazil variant and more than 1,000 confirmed cases of the pair known together as the California or West Coast variant.
The West Coast variant is particularly troubling, as it has proved to be more contagious and more resistant to antibodies, according to a UC San Francisco study.
In addition, Santa Clara County on Thursday reported its first two cases of the two New York variants, which are considered less threatening “variants of interest.”
While numbers remain well below the DecemberJanuary surge, some counties are seeing their case numbers creep up. San Mateo County reported a seven-day average of 64 new cases Wednesday, compared with a recent low of 30 in mid-March. Hospitalizations also ticked up this week, with the county reporting 30 confirmed COVID-19 patients Wednesday and 24 Tuesday, compared with 12 at the start of the week.
Santa Clara County expects to receive more vaccine next week — 71,900 doses — than the 58,000 it got this week. But that’s not enough, said Dr. Marty Fenstersheib, Santa Clara County’s testing and vaccine officer. Thursday’s expansion to include those 50 and older puts about 370,000 more people on the county’s eligibility list, which Fenstersheib said is “adding a lot of people that we don’t have vaccine for now.”
After about a month of offering virtually no first-dose appointments, Santa Clara County released thousands of new openings Thursday at county-run sites.
About a third of those eligible in the county have received at least one dose of what is usually a two-dose vaccine regimen, making Santa Clara County among the slowest in the Bay Area to inoculate its residents.
Marin was the first in the region to cross the halfway threshold, with 54% of residents 16 and older having received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine. Napa is right behind, with about 48% of residents 16 and older receiving at least one shot as of Tuesday.
Contra Costa County has made great progress in vaccinating its oldest residents with more than 95% of residents 75 and older at least partially vaccinated, and it has now expanded eligibility to all adults, the first county in the area to take that leap. The county’s vaccination rate as of Tuesday was 43%.
In San Francisco, about 80% of adults should receive one shot by mid-May — if supply keeps up with projections, Mayor London Breed tweeted Thursday.
Newsom received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine the day after the company said it had to discard 15 million doses due to a problem with a batch of drugs in its Baltimore factory. That supply disruption won’t impact California’s allocation of Johnson & Johnson shots for at least three weeks, Newsom said. He has been told California will receive 572,700 doses next week, 215,400 the following week and another 215,400 the week after that.
“Beyond that, it’s an open-ended question,” Newsom said.
As the virus and its variants continue to spread, the region’s pace of reopening is worrying some, including Goldbach.
“I don’t like the idea that the state and the counties are opening up,” she said, “when we’ve still got this big medical problem going on and no vaccinations available.”