County preparing for next phase of vaccine
More doses are coming in soon
Getting more doses, still vaccinating health care workers, but those 65 and older are next up.
SALINAS >> Monterey County has now been allotted 31,525 doses of the COVID-19 vaccines, up 7,375 from last week. County health officials, meanwhile, are saying Phase 1a vaccinations are still being administered and moving to Phase 1b will hopefully happen soon.
At its briefing Wednesday, the health department announced when that does happen it will be ready and is preparing with staff training and getting the necessary storage capacity so that delivering the vaccine to groups can happen swiftly through clinics or mass vaccination sites.
With concerns over new variants and one lot of the Moderna vaccine being put on pause, the county is concentrating on getting what it has been allotted so far into the arms of health care workers so it can move on to those 65 and older.
Monterey County Health Officer Dr. Edward Moreno said Monterey County received 6,100 doses of lot 41L20A Moderna vaccine and delivered it to the four hospitals in Monterey County — Natividad, Salinas Valley Memorial Healthcare System, Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula and Mee Memorial.
CHOMP reportedly administered 1,070 of the affected Moderna lot with no significant side effects.
The state has recommended that providers pause administering the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine from lot 041L20A after a higher-than-usual number of possible allergic reactions were reported with the specific lot given at one community vaccination clinic in San Diego. Fewer than 10 individuals required medical attention over the span of 24 hours.
The state said it expects to have an update this week about the Moderna COVID-19 lot 041L20A vaccine.
Dr. Moreno said that with hundreds of variants of SARSCoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, in circulation, there are concerns that some might be able to pass more easily and may have an influence on the trajectory of cases and rates of transmission. This would put more pressure on an already-stressed health care system and take hospital resources away from administering vaccines when they become available.
The L452R variant of the virus that causes COVID-19 has previously been detected in other countries and states, was first detected last year and is potentially more infectious. It is different from the B.1.1.7 variant first detected in the United Kingdom.
Moreno said the clinical and epidemiological significance of this strain is not known and is being investigated.
The L452R variant has been identified using genetic sequencing in multiple counties across the state and is now increasingly found in many counties including Humboldt, Lake, Los Angeles, Mono, Monterey, Orange, Riverside, San Francisco, San Bernardino, San Diego, San Luis Obispo, and Santa Clara counties.
As the number of specimens tested to monitor for variant strains has increased at California labs, the L452R variant has been identified more frequently since November, said the county.
The California Department of Public Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, local public health departments, and laboratory partners are working together to learn more about the variant, including how it spreads and any potential impact on vaccine efficacy.
The Monterey County Health Department says that due to the ongoing surge of COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations, regardless of circulating variants, it asks that all county residents continue steps to limit transmission of the virus and reduce strain on health care systems including staying at home, wearing a mask outside the home, limiting interactions with others outside the immediate household, social distancing of at least 6 feet apart, frequently washing hands for at least 20 seconds and getting the vaccine when it is available.
As of Wednesday, Monterey County had 338 new cases of COVID-19 with a total of 36,464 confirmed cases. Hospitalizations decreased by 18 for a total of 183. There have been 255 deaths due to the coronavirus with no new fatalities to report. Eleven more people have recovered bringing the total to 14,527.
For more information about COVID-19 and the vaccines used to combat its spread, visit the Monterey County Health Department website.