California, Bay Area opens mass vaccination sites

National and local authorities are starting to open mass vaccination centers to speed up coronavirus vaccinations and to accommodate the additional millions of Californians now eligible for vaccines under new, more flexible state guidelines.

Vaccination sites will open this week at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, Petco Park in San Diego and Cal Expo in Sacramento, Gov. Gavin Newsom said at a press briefing Monday. Some sites are also opening in the Bay Area, although for now they are reserved for health workers and by appointment only. But they’re set to open up to members of the general public in the coming weeks.

The opening of mass vaccination clinics marks the next step in a landmark vaccination campaign that began just a month ago, when the first vaccines were injected into the arms of high-risk healthcare providers .

Since then, California has administered less than a third of the doses it has received from the federal government. This puts California last among US states for vaccination rates and puts enormous pressure on public health officials to speed up the process.

“We recognize that the current strategy will not get us where we need to go as quickly as we all need to go,” Newsom said. “This is why we are speeding up administration not only for priority groups, but we are opening up large sites to do so.”

As of Sunday, the most recent date for which data is available, about 783,000 of the 2.9 million doses shipped to California counties and health care providers fell into people’s hands, according to the state. This equates to 1,981 doses per 100,000 people.

By comparison, South Dakota and West Virginia, which have the highest vaccination rates, administered 5,451 and 5,376 doses per 100,000 population, respectively, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Even though many health workers can get vaccinated through their employer or health care provider, county officials are hopeful that opening additional sites can speed up the process. Additionally, Bay Area counties predict that within a few weeks, large-scale vaccination sites will be able to start vaccinating people in the next group, phase 1b, which in California has around 15 million essential workers. and people aged 65 and over.

The relaxed state guidelines, announced Thursday, allow counties and healthcare providers to start immunizing people in phase 1b now, provided they have made the vaccines available to everyone in phase 1a. But many Bay Area counties and vendors are still working through Phase 1a and don’t plan to fully embark on Phase 1b until late January or early February.

In California, Phase 1a includes approximately 2.4 million healthcare workers and residents of long-term care facilities. Phase 1b, which the state has not yet finalized, will likely be split into two levels. The first includes people who work in education, emergency services, and food and agriculture, as well as those aged 75 and over. The second level includes people who work in essential manufacturing and transportation sectors, as well as people 65 years of age and older and those who are homeless or incarcerated.

“Over the next two weeks we will finish vaccinating the first groups of people and start vaccinating the next group,” said Dr Ori Tzvieli, deputy director of health for Contra Costa County. “We are looking at people over 75 and essential workers, such as teachers, educators, police and grocers. As more residents become eligible for vaccination, health care providers will educate their members and patients on how to make appointments for vaccines.

The county announced Monday that a Safeway location will begin offering photos this week and that additional Safeway and Rite Aid stores will join over the next two weeks. Contra Costa County declined to specify the location of the Safeway, as it currently only vaccinates Phase 1a healthcare workers by appointment. The county is notifying people who may be vaccinated there.

Most people in the county will be vaccinated by their own health care provider, not at a county vaccination clinic, Tzvieli said. Large healthcare providers, such as Kaiser Permanente and Sutter, will notify their patients when they are eligible to make appointments for vaccinations, he said. Notifications should start before the end of the month.

San Mateo County opened a mass vaccination center on Monday at a site that had previously been used for coronavirus testing. The vaccination clinic at the San Mateo County Events Center is currently restricted to health workers, who must register for an appointment online and complete a certification form asking if they live in the county. and working with patients in person, and advising them not to share or pass the link on to others. Upon arrival, they will need to present a photo ID.

In San Francisco, where most residents have private or public health insurance, the public health department will help immunize vulnerable residents who are not covered. Public health officials said they would work with private providers like Kaiser to open larger vaccination sites.

Santa Clara County is also vaccinating healthcare workers who are not patients of large healthcare systems by appointment. He plans to open an additional site at El Camino Health, which is expected to start booking online on Tuesday and donating photos next week.