Milestone: Over 80% of eligible Californians now partially vaccinated against COVID-19
LOS ANGELES — More than 80% of eligible Californians have now received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine, a milestone Gov. Gavin Newsom characterized as a “momentous occasion” that nevertheless underscored that more needed to be done.
That level of vaccine coverage among residents 12 and older ranks ninth out of all states, according to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
California’s partial-inoculation share of 80.6% outpaces the rates in Pennsylvania, at 80%; New York, 78%; Florida, 73.1%; and Texas, 68.6%, federal figures show. States with even higher rates are mostly in New England, as well as Hawaii and New Mexico.
“Thank you to the people in the state of California for being mindful that this pandemic is not behind us, that, as we battle this delta variant, this mutation ... we still have work to do,” Newsom said during a briefing Tuesday.
For starters, the share of eligible Californians who are fully vaccinated — meaning they’ve either received the single-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine or two doses of either Pfizer-biontech or Moderna — is smaller, at a bit more than 65%.
And sizable gaps persist. Only about half of Black and Latino Californians are at least partially vaccinated, compared with 61% of white residents, 63% of Native Americans and 75% of Asian or Pacific Islander residents, according to data compiled by the Los Angeles Times. (These numbers are an undercount. The race of about 15.3% of people who have been vaccinated is unknown.)
There are also wide geographic disparities. Eleven of California’s 58 counties have at least partially vaccinated more than 70% of their residents, but 16 other counties have seen less than half of their residents roll up their sleeves.
Counties in the San Francisco Bay Area have California’s highest vaccination rates. Both San Francisco and Santa Clara County, the Bay Area’s most populous, are reporting that 87% of people ages 12 and up have received at least one dose; in Alameda County, the region’s second most populous county, 88% have received at least one dose.
Weekly COVID-19 vaccinations statewide are up 53% from a low point in mid-july. For the seven-day period that ended Saturday, at least 627,000 vaccination doses were administered, up from a summertime low of about 411,000 doses for the weekly period that ended July 9.
Despite that progress, Newsom said the state was working on “more culturally competent outreach to meet people, quite literally, where they are” and “doing more to try to do better, including in our rural parts and remote parts of the state where we still have a substantial amount of population that need to get these lifesaving vaccines.”
The latest vaccination milestone comes amid continuing signs that the latest coronavirus wave may be starting to level off.
Over the last week, California has reported an average of 12,861 new coronavirus cases per day, according to data compiled by the Times. That’s a roughly 11% decrease from a week ago.
The state also has seen a steady drop in its test positivity rate, which reflects how many tests that are conducted result in confirmed coronavirus infections.
As of Monday, California’s sevenday positivity rate was 4.7%, down from 6.1% two weeks ago.
“I don’t think it’s any surprise that we have among the lowest positivity rates in America, as we have the highest vaccination rates in America,” Newsom said, although he added there was more work to do to increase vaccinations in populations with lower rates, such as among Black and Latino Californians.
By contrast, the nation’s second most populous state, Texas, has a test positivity rate of 16%, according to Johns Hopkins University.
Public health officials say that metric is a telling measure of coronavirus spread. Although the raw number of cases fluctuates depending on how much testing is going on — and testing has ramped up dramatically since California schools opened their doors for the new term — a stable or declining positivity rate can illustrate slowing transmission.
The current caseload, however, is still troublingly high. As of June 15, when California reopened its economy and lifted virtually all coronavirus-related restrictions on businesses and public spaces, the state was recording fewer than 900 total cases per day, on average.
Hospitals also remain under stress.
Statewide, 8,342 COVID-19 patients were hospitalized statewide on Monday. That’s up about 12% from two weeks ago.
Of particular concern are California’s intensive care units. On Monday, 2,128 COVID-19 patients were receiving that level of specialized medical attention statewide, a number not seen since mid-february.