Nearly 150,000 vaccine shots administered

As of Thursday, those 50 to 64 are eligible for inoculation

The local health jurisdiction, multi-county entity health care providers and federal community and commercial partner clinics in Santa Cruz County continue to make progress when it comes to coronavirus vaccination.

As of Monday afternoon, 149,144 shots had been put into the arms of Santa Cruz County residents, the California Department of Public Health vaccine dashboard displayed. With the recent pace of 3,000 doses administered in a day in Santa Cruz County, the 150,000 dose marker will undoubtedly pass in the next 24 hours.

In Santa Cruz County, 40% of people with at least one dose of vaccine are white, 20% are Latino. More than 14% of those with one dose are multi-race. Approximately 12% identify as unknown and 10% identify as other; 2% are Asian, 0.4% are Black, 0.2% are American Indian or Alaska Native and 0.1% are Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander.

On average, women have been vaccinated more frequently than men in Santa Cruz County as 57% of those with at least one dose of the vaccine are female and 43% of those with one dose are male. Less than 1% identify as unknown or undifferentiated, or those who declined to state their gender, those whose gender information was missing or those who identify as transgender, gender non-binary, genderqueer or intersex.

About 41% of those county residents with at least one dose of vaccine are 65 and older while 22.6% are 50 to 64, 35.6% are 18 to 49 and 0.4% are infants to 17. Last week Gov. Gavin Newsom announced that those aged 50 to 64 would be eligible for vaccination beginning Thursday. Anybody 16 and over can be vaccinated beginning April 15.

Though county officials said at their last health leadership press conference that demand will far outweigh supply when the expansions happen, they were encouraged by the scheduled launch of MyTurn in Santa Cruz County on Monday. However, as of Monday afternoon, no

appointments were available through MyTurn for those who have been eligible for vaccination such as those 65 and older.

“Vaccine supplies and onsite resources are still limited in your appointment location. Please accept our apologies for that inconvenience. We can notify you when more appointments and locations are available,” the state system’s error

page reads.

However, MyTurn does suggest locations offered by external sites such as the Safeway pharmacies on Mission Street in Santa Cruz and 41st Street in Soquel. Though some sites like the Safeway stores had no available appointments either, suggestions such as Dignity Health’s Branciforte Middle School did have times beginning Tuesday.

County case counts continue to trend low, as approximately 16 new cases were reported daily

on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. No new hospitalizations or deaths were reported in the county’s data dashboard on Monday.