Moderna shots resume after state’s all-clear
Online interest form to be rolled out soon for those 75 and older
Humboldt County has resumed administering Moderna’s COVID vaccine after an all-clear from the state earlier this week.
California State Epidemiologist Dr. Erica Pan issued a statement Wednesday advising health care providers to resume administering Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccines from Lot 51L20A after investigating the batch and finding “no scientific basis to continue the pause.” The pause, which began Sunday, ended after all of the seven individuals in San Diego County
who experienced an allergic reaction to the vaccine received treatment and recovered, according to the findings of the Western States Scientific Safety Review Workgroup.
“I’m very happy to hear the vaccine was released from the pause,” Humboldt County Health Officer Dr. Ian Hoffman said in a Thursday media availability video. “It was having big effects on our vaccination effort locally. The findings of the investigation were basically that they could not conclude with any scientific evidence that there was a problem with this entire batch.”
The workgroup’s findings state “that the rapid detection of and response to this cluster of adverse events” points to the strength of “the systems put in place to monitor the safety of COVID-19 vaccines.”
Public Health had 3,170 doses on hand as of Thursday afternoon, of which 2,500 were affected by the pause — 600 first doses and 1,900 second doses, according to a Thursday county release. The remaining doses from the Moderna lot that was paused were distributed to health care providers and are cleared to be administered.
Public Health vaccinated 285 people on Wednesday, estimated it would vaccinate 290 on Thursday and had 400 vaccination appointments scheduled for Friday, according to the release.
“Within Public Health we had planned to expand our Public Health appointments, just over a thousand this week,” Hoffman said. “And those were affected by the pause, we were not able to schedule those appointments so they’ve been pushed off for the week.”
Mass vaccination events that were planned were also put on pause, but the ability to resume administration of the investigated batch should result in “hopefully no more than a week’s delay,” he said.
“I think we’ll be caught up by the end of next week,” Hoffman said. “And then it’ll just depend on how much vaccine we get each week going forward after that.”
People who are 75 years and older and who have a primary care provider who has been approved as a COVID-19 vaccinator will be contacted to schedule a vaccination appointment by their doctor.
People in that age group who don’t have a provider who’s an approved vaccinator or don’t have insurance will be able to fill out an online interest form that will allow them to be notified when vaccination appointments are available, Hoffman said.
Information about the interest form will be released next week, according to the county press release.
The county has been simultaneously expanding its capacity to administer vaccines by swearing in medical professionals as disaster health care volunteers. County Public Health swore in 21 volunteers Jan. 14 and 19 additional volunteers Tuesday, for a total of 40.
“This pandemic has impacted all of us, and it will take all of us to get out of it,” Hoffman said in a statement issued Wednesday. “I’d like to give my heartfelt thanks to all these volunteers who have stepped up to respond to the community’s need.”
The county is still seeking volunteer vaccinators and those who are interested can call 707-4415000 or email COVIDInfo@ co.humboldt.ca.us for more information.