CEliforniE reEMies for vEccine

SALRAMUNTO >> As California reported a record of nearly 35,500 positive coronavirus cases on Friday, there’s a glimmer of hope: The state is awaiting the first batch of coronavirus vaccine and plans to distribute it to hospitals to inoculate health care workers on the front lines of the pandemic.

The state expects to receive 327,000 doses of Pfizer’s vaccine by early next week. Counties will have specific allotments that will be distributed to hospitals that have adequate storage capacity and the ability to vaccinate people quickly.

The doses will arrive in a state grappling with a spiraling number of COVID-19 cases, soaring hospitalizations and record death counts. To buy time, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration has placed much of the state on a stay-at-home order due to dwindling intensive care unit capacity.

Officials said they expect more doses to arrive once federal regulators review Moderna’s vaccine next week. They said other manufacturers could later follow, increasing the amount of vaccine available in the state in 2021.

Here’s the plans so far for COVID-19 vaccination in California:

When is the vaccine arriving?

The initial doses of Pfizer’s vaccine are expected to be shipped as soon as the U. S. Food and Drug Administration gives the go-ahead, a decision expected at least by this weekend. A consor

tium of Western states including California formed their own safety committee that is doing its own review in parallel with the FDA’s consideration and could give its final approval as soon as the FDA acts.

It’s then a matter of how quickly the vials can be shipped across the nation from the company’s warehouse in Kalamazoo, Mich.

The doses are packed in dry ice in what have been nicknamed “pizza boxes.” The state expects two more batches later this month, then weekly allocations next year, said Dr. Paul Simon, chief science officer with Los Angeles County’s Department of Public Health.

Elizabeth Fernandez, a hospital spokeswoman for the University of California San Francisco, said the first shipment could arrive Tuesday and be administered Wednesday.

How will the doses be distributed?

The initial doses will be distributed to hospitals that can show they have the capacity to safely store and administer the vaccine in line with Pfizer’s guidelines. In Los Angeles County, nine sites with ultra cold freezers capable of storing Pfizer’s vaccine will receive the initial allocations, Simon said.

Hospitals also must attest that they have a plan to distribute all doses

within five days, said Dr. C lay ton C hau, Orange County’s public health officer. The distribution is tricky because the vaccines must be stored at low and ultra-low temperatures, Santa Clara County said in a statement.

Many of the details were still being worked out with county health agencies, hospital officials said on Friday.

Who will receive the first doses?

Federal officials and a

state community vaccine committee have spelled out the priority list for vaccines, with healthcare workers at greatest risk of virus exposure at the top. Chau said that could include emergency room and intensive care unit personnel.

“L oca l hospita ls w ill need to determine which s e gment of t hei r employee populations are at higher r isk for contracting the virus due to this limited quantity,” he said.