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California recently declared that people 65 and older are eligible to be vaccinated against the coronavirus. But receiving two vaccines against everyone in that age group could take another four to five months, state health officials said on Wednesday.
Given the current rate of vaccines entering the state – between 400,000 and 500,000 doses per week, in a good week – it will take around 20 to 22 weeks to vaccinate the population 65 and over on its own, the health official of state, Dr. Erica Pan said at a meeting of the State Advisory Committee on Vaccines.
There are about 6.2 million Californians aged 65 or older, according to the committee. It is believed that herd immunity is achieved if at least 70% of people are vaccinated, so 4.34 million people in this group should be vaccinated. Because the two currently available vaccines, by Pfizer and Moderna, both require two doses, that means 8.68 million doses would be needed to complete vaccinations for that group alone.
The state has received around 4 million doses so far. Vaccinations began about four weeks ago, with frontline healthcare workers being the first.
Pan said on Wednesday that most qualified nursing homes in California that are part of the federal pharmacy program CVS and Walgreens will complete immunizations soon. Other long-term care facilities such as assisted living centers are expected to complete vaccinations by mid-February.
The inconsistent and scarce vaccine supply has been a major problem in the deployment of the coronavirus vaccine. States get their vaccine allocations from the federal government, and the state then allocates doses to counties and health care providers.
The state expects to receive vaccines at the current rate of 400,000 to 500,000 doses per week for the next several weeks, although this may increase to 100,000 doses per week.
“It’s a very small amount at least for the next few weeks,” Pan said.
Pan said officials are hopeful that other vaccine makers will seek emergency use clearance from the FDA soon, which would help increase vaccine supplies, but the earliest possible is March. Health officials also hope the Biden administration will provide more clarity on the country’s vaccine supply.
Pan also told Wednesday’s meeting that the state will soon issue a statement about the handful of people who have had allergic reactions after receiving the Moderna vaccine at a mass vaccination site at Petco Park in San Diego this week. last. The state has recommended that the use of this 330,000 vaccine bundle be suspended, leaving many countries and health care systems even shorter than they already were.
Catherine Ho is a writer for the San Francisco Chronicle. Email: [email protected] Twitter: @Cat_Ho
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