COVID cases dropping, more vaccine coming
EL CENTRO — The Imperial County Public Health Department is due to receive 1,475 doses of COVID-19 vaccine sometime next week.
ICPHD shared the information Friday during a COVID-19 community update.
The department received no vaccine this week.
ICPHD director Janette Angulo emphasized that receiving vaccine is no easy task, as the state’s vaccine program, CalVax, determines how much each county in the state receives.
Rather than distributing based on the needs in each county, CalVax has a set allocation for each county, she explained.
“We’ve requested additional vaccine for weeks now, but the state has not had additional vaccines available,” she said.
Next week, ICPHD will receive a box containing 975 doses of Pfizer vaccine, and five boxes of Moderna vaccine.
From Dec. 17 through Thursday, the department has received a total of 7,525 “first” doses of vaccine; 4,560 have been used.
ICPHD has also received 3,250 “second” doses; 105 have been used.
As for phases and tiers in which the vaccine will be distributed, the county still remains in Phase 1a.
Tier 1 began Dec. 17; Tier 2 began Jan. 6, and vaccination of senior citizens 65 years or older (a late addition to Phase 1a) began Monday.
Vaccination in Tier 3, which includes staff of specialty clinics, laboratory workers, dental/oral health workers, pharmacy, and mortuary staff, will start soon, Angulo said.
The public health director also provided an overview of current local COVID cases, highlighting that there has been a decrease in overall cases within the last few weeks.
On Dec. 15, the county had 112.48 new cases per day, per 100,000 people (42.25 percent positivity rate).
On Thursday, the county had 73.65 new cases per day, per 100,000 people (32.71 percent positivity rate).
“Which is really good for our community,” she said.