vaccine

SACRAMENTO — At this stage of the vaccine rollout it seems unfathomable that Los Angeles would be forced to temporarily close its largest vaccination site at Dodger Stadium and four other locations because they are out of doses. But it’s happened and it raises questions about how local, state and federal governments determine where to send scarce vaccine doses.

Here’s a look at California’s vaccination system:

The federal government decides each week how many vaccines a state will get, then the state determines how to divide them among counties and major health systems. Counties and health systems almost always ask for more than they get, the result of having far more capacity than available shots.

The state divvies up the vaccine through a formula aimed at estimating how many people in an area are eligible.

Continue Reading on Pressdemocrat

Late last June, Victor Arreola, a Healdsburg vineyard manager, contracted the coronavirus and ended up infecting his wife, two sons and a daughter.

Although he was the only one in his family to suffer severe viral symptoms, that experience has haunted him.

Arreola received a first vaccine dose Wednesday at a public vaccination clinic held inside the Huerta Gymnasium in Windsor. The 56-year-old agriculture worker was one of about 190 people inoculated.

The clinic was organized by Alliance Medical Center, one of several federally funded community health clinics nationwide now playing a key role inoculating low-income and minority residents. In Sonoma County, these local health centers also are leading the way toward a more equitable vaccine distribution.

Continue Reading on Press Democrat

Sonoma County is poised to significantly expand the number of people vaccinated every day against the novel coronavirus, even as county leaders and public health officials are growing increasingly frustrated with the slow trickle of vaccine provided by the state of California.

The county unveiled plans Thursday to open two more vaccination sites next week, adding to the five clinics it already coordinates, part of a program that could soon be administering 2,000 doses a day. That figure, which excludes vials going to the six hospitals in the region, would represent a dramatic expansion of the county’s vaccination campaign, which has averaged 985 doses a day over the last week.

Lynda Hopkins, chair of the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors, said the rollout of the county’s vaccination campaign is being limited by distribution from the state.

Continue Reading on Press Democrat

SONOMA COUNTY, Calif. (KGO) — Frustration and confusion continue over the slow rollout of COVID-19 vaccines for the high-risk residents of long-term care facilities in California, and throughout the U.S.

“They have no idea when they’re going to be vaccinated,” said Carole LaRochelle who’s concerned about her 88-year-old mother Dora, who is in assisted living in Sonoma County.

According to the CDC, long-term care facility residents and staff members account for 39% of coronavirus deaths in the U.S.

Along with health care workers, long-term care residents like Dora are in tier 1A. Tier 1B includes individuals 65 and older, like LaRochelle’s 90-year-old father who lives at home in Santa Rosa, but managed to get vaccinated before Dora.

Continue Reading on ABC News

UKIAH, Calif. (KGO) — A hospital north of Santa Rosa had just hours to vaccinate hundreds of people on Monday after the freezer storing its Moderna vaccine had broken down.

Staff at Ukiah Valley Medical Center jumped into action, vaccinating some 830 people in just two hours.

I-TEAM: CA doctor says vaccine distribution not going as planned, doses delayed for vulnerable communities

Math teacher Leslie Banta happened to be one of them.

“I am elated. That is not an understatement.”

Leslie received her first vaccination, Monday, and has the card to prove it. It happened weeks, maybe even months ahead of schedule, in a victory snatched from what might have been a disaster.

“It is astounding and heroic.”

Continue Reading on ABC News 

Sonoma County public health officials received 5,800 doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine on Wednesday, with 3,000 more expected next week, bolstering the growing local arsenal against a deadly virus that has claimed the lives of 180 county residents since March.

The county public health laboratory’s first doses of the Moderna vaccine arrived, after it already received at least 7,000 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and additional doses are on the way.

Therefore, county officials can’t do anything about the planned large gathering or force its cancellation. County Health Officer Dr. Sundari Mase said the casino operator will take steps to reduce the risk of party attendees contracting the coronavirus.

Continue Reading on Press Democrat