Due to the low and unpredictable supply of vaccines from the state, Santa Clara County has turned over thousands of appointments, county officials said Wednesday.
About 8,500 appointments for Kaiser Permanente patients scheduled in the county between Thursday and March 21 will be transferred to Kaiser for rescheduling.
The reason for the transfer is that the state has “assured” Kaiser that it will have enough vaccine for its members, while the county has received “no such commitment” for uninsured and vulnerable residents, provincial officials said.
Despite an additional allocation of 7,500 Johnson & Johnson vaccines, the county received only 3,000 more doses than last week. That’s because, according to county data, the county received 1,400 fewer Moderna injections and 3,510 fewer Pfizer vaccines than the week before.
But this is not because the state has been getting less Moderna and Pfizer vaccine. On the contrary, the state received 29,900 more Moderna shots and 40,950 more Pfizer shots.
The state has allocated 40% of vaccines to target 400 lower-income zip codes in the state, but no zip codes have been identified in Santa Clara County – which may explain why allocations were lower this week, County Testing and Vaccine Officer Dr. Marty Fenstersheib at Tuesday’s County Board of Supervisors meeting.
“We are not one of them [400 ZIP codes] So again, our justice efforts are being jeopardized by the inadequate vaccines and the focus that the state has everywhere except us, “Fenstersheib said.
At a press conference last week, supervisor Cindy Chavez said the state should “treat everyone” [counties] frankly, “noting the high and disproportionate COVID-19 positivity rates in East San Jose and South County.
The province has the capacity to inoculate 12,000 to 15,000 people per day, but its limited supply allows the province to fire 8,000 shots per day, Fenstersheib said.
According to county public health, all people transferred are Kaiser members under the age of 75.
The public health department also noted that Kaiser will prioritize scheduling vaccine appointments through his system for those patients who are transferred.
“The decision to return these patients to Kaiser for their vaccination appointments was made after careful consideration of the available options,” the public health department said in a statement. “This transfer of appointments prevents additional cancellations from vaccination clinics and appointments.”
As of Wednesday, the county has not canceled appointments due to the supply of vaccines, it has only transferred those 8,500 Kaiser patients, according to the county emergency processing center.
The province claims that the number one vaccination priority is to ensure access to vaccines for communities most affected by COVID-19.