Shots in arms increase, but Kern’s COVID-19 vaccinations still low compared to other counties

Vaccinating the masses is underway throughout California now that supply of the vaccine has ramped up, but Kern County continues to lag behind almost all other counties in its vaccination rates.

A Californian analysis of doses administered per capita shows Kern County ranks 33rd out of the 35 counties, ahead of Kings and Shasta counties.

One thing is clear: It is not for lack of trying.

“We’re using all the vaccine we receive when we get it,” said Brynn Carrigan, the county’s public health director. “Our vaccination rates are great as far as what’s been received and what’s been given to our residents.”

That means the issue is related to supply: Kern is getting less vaccine doses than other counties. And ultimately that means fewer people are being vaccinated here than in other — often wealthier — parts of the state.

The difference in vaccination rates is stark. On the high end in Marin County, half of all residents 16 and over (the vaccine isn’t approved for children under 16) have been partially vaccinated. In Kern, the number is 18 percent. It is 40 percent in Contra Costa and San Francisco, two counties that have roughly the same population as Kern, and above 50 percent for inmates in the California prison system.

It appears that Kern may have a combination of factors that have squeezed it out of from receiving more vaccine doses.

The system the state uses for allocating doses is based on the estimated number of people currently eligible to receive the vaccine in Kern. The first group eligible when the vaccine first arrived was health care workers. Next, it was opened to people 65 and over. Kern doesn’t have large populations in either category.

A health care worker shortage has long plagued the San Joaquin Valley and Kern fits squarely into that pattern. The county population is also young compared to other parts of the state. Just 11 percent of the county’s 920,000 residents are 65 and over, compared to 15 percent statewide and 23 percent in Marin County, according to the most recent census data.

Hopes of getting more vaccine were raised in late February when it became available for people who worked in education and child care, the agriculture and food industry workers and emergency services. It was thought that Kern had a sizable population of those workers and would therefore see a bump in vaccine allotment.

Then, in early March, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration announced that to address fairness and equity in vaccine administration, 40 percent of the state’s available vaccine would go to people in the state’s most disadvantaged communities. That included about 400 ZIP codes throughout the state — including 16 in Kern. State data shows that 40 percent of all COVID-19 cases and deaths happened in these communities.

And vaccine supplies did increase.

In early March, Kern received 30,000 doses, its highest weekly allotment to date, Carrigan said. Prior to that, the county had been receiving about 7,000 doses a week.

In the past couple of weeks, the doses allotted have been from 20,000 to 25,000 per week.

What’s not clear is how much of that increase is due to additional workers becoming eligible in Kern versus any additional doses given for disadvantaged areas.

Carrigan, the county’s public health director said she isn’t sure that the state actually increased the county’s allotment for its disadvantaged areas. She said the county has been directed by the state to ensure 40 percent of its total allocations are administered to people in those communities, however. The California Department of Public Health did not respond to emails requesting information on the vaccine allocations.

Rachel Linn Gish, director of communications for Health Access California, a consumer advocacy coalition, said Kern likely just has a combination of dynamics that have put it in a bad spot so far.