Santa Clara County has closed the schedule of first-dose coronavirus vaccine appointments, citing low and unpredictable supply of doses by the state.
The news pushes officials in two areas, including Santa Clara County, who have handled vaccine distribution by the state – from an equity program they argue to tap the huge insurer Blue Shield into needy areas in the area. State vaccination program.
“Due to low vaccine supplies from the state and the need to save inventory for second-dose appointments, the county health system stopped scheduling first dose appointments on Friday, March 5, except for a limited number of walk-in appointments at community-based locations. , ”The county said in a statement. “The county will immediately resume the schedule of first dose appointments when the vaccine supply received from the state allows us to do so.”
On Wednesday, the county said it had notified “several thousand” Kazar patients who had booked appointments by the county between March 11 and March 21 that they were being transferred back to Kaiser due to supply issues.
“County Kaiser is transferring patient appointments to Kaiser because the state has assured Kaiser that it will have enough vaccines for its members and its vaccination sites, while the county has not received such a commitment for the insurance we provide and the vulnerable population.” Said the county.
Patients are under the age of 75, the county added, adding that Kaiser told the county that he would prioritize appointment for these transplanted patients.
“While vaccine supplies continue to be limited and unpredictable for all providers, including Caesar Permanente, we are pleased to be able to provide vaccines to Caesar Permanente members, whose appointments were only canceled by Santa Clara County,” Kaiser said in a statement. . The county lacks vaccines. “
“In the next several days, we will reach out to these members directly as soon as possible to reappoint them,” Kaiser said. “We will also continue to vaccinate community members, as vaccination approvals, regardless of their health plan, are being supported by our Kaiser Permanent Medical Centers and with public and private health care organizations through many vaccination sites. We do not expect this situation to affect any vaccination appointments already scheduled in our facilities. “
County executive Jeff Smith expressed frustration with the state on Wednesday, saying, “We don’t know where the allocation decision is being made. We’ve asked and it seems that (the California Department of Public Health) is no longer involved in allocation decisions – and allocation decisions are being made by government ops and the Blue Shield, so we don’t know how much the Blue Shield agreement affected it, if Utterly. “
The state’s public health department said in a statement: “Vaccine supply is limited by gross production. The federal government has said it expects supply to grow significantly in April and May. We are working with Blue Shield to create a vaccination network that will be able to administer 4 million doses per week by the end of April. “
Due to Johnson and Johnson’s expected vaccine shortage, vaccine supply across the state is limited. The government’s Gavin News said Wednesday that the state does not expect to receive more doses of the vaccine in the immediate future, but hopes that overall vaccine supply “will really start to go up next month and the following month.”
The differences in these issues could escalate on Monday, when the state said the vaccine qualification would be extended to California with certain disabilities and conditions.
“At the moment, we are expecting the allocation to be less than we need, so we will have to assess once we know about our new allocation.” “Because of the dosage, there is a limit on inventory, I must say, we have to limit the number of appointments to match the inventory we have, and we have other dosage requirements that we can’t really skip, so what does it mean if we get less vaccine?” Got it, we have to rock the next appointments. “
