Vaccine eligibility in Santa Clara County has expanded to all county residents 16 years and older, two days earlier than initially planned, health officials said in a Tuesday news conference.
As of Wednesday, 828,092 or 56% of eligible county residents have received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine, according to the county’s vaccinations dashboard.
About 29% of all vaccine eligible residents have received both doses, according to the dashboard.
Dr. Jennifer Tong, associate chief medical officer for the Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, said the county’s vaccine supply is finally at sufficient numbers and is no longer in short supply.
District 3 supervisor Otto Lee said the county received a quarter-million doses of the Pfizer vaccine last week and is expecting 300,000 more this week.
“Our biggest bottleneck for this time has been the actual supply of the vaccines and we've mainly been getting vaccines from the state,” Lee said during the news conference. “We've been only receiving anywhere between 50,000 to 70,000 from the state every week for the past three weeks, this is close to four to five times the supply we've been getting.”
He also said the county has ramped up its delivery of more than 200,000 vaccines per week, adding that the increased vaccine supply is a “game changer.”
Tong said she anticipates “heavy traffic” when residents are scheduling vaccine appointments and they should remain patient and consistently check for appointment availabilities.
Johnson & Johnson concerns
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration halted supplies of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine on Tuesday after six women ages 18-48 experienced a “very rare complication” of blood clots a few weeks after they received the vaccine.
Biochemistry sophomore Kaitlin Miller said she was hesitant upon arrival to her vaccination appointment Friday when the healthcare provider told her she was receiving the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
“I didn’t want to get this vaccine because of the lack of data,” Miller said in a text. “I wanted to turn back and leave to come when they were distributing a different vaccine, but appointments were so hard to come across . . . I knew I needed to get it done and over with.”
When the CDC paused the vaccine supply Tuesday, she said she was filled with fear because she “knew something like this would happen” and she fit the age group of the women who developed blood clots.
Aerospace engineering sophomore Nima Borhani received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine on March 6 and said despite the rare and severe blood clots reported, the vaccine is safer than contracting the COVID-19 virus.
“There’s definitely concerns because there’s not much [long-term] data but I think the same could be said for the other vaccines,” Borhani said in a text.
Dr. Martin Fenstersheib, Santa Clara County’s public health officer, said the pause has little effect on the county’s current vaccination progress.
“[Johnson & Johnson is] 5% of our vaccine [supply],” Fenstersheib said during the news conference. “We can easily switch out one of the other vaccines for the Johnson & Johnson and it will not show much of an impact with our ability to vaccinate.”
He said none of the blood clotting cases were reported in California and the CDC will convene with its Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices to investigate the complication.
Fenstersheib said about 60,000 county residents have received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine and shouldn't be concerned as their risk of developing blood clots is “one in a million” and the risk is even less if they received the vaccine more than a month ago.
Residents who received the vaccine within the past few weeks should contact their health care provider if they develop prolonged symptoms including severe headache, abdominal pain, leg pain and shortness of breath, Fenstersheib said.
Vaccine disparities
Betty Duong, the county’s public information officer and a leader in outreach and education efforts, said while COVID-19 case, death and transmission rates are flattening, there are ongoing disparities by geography, race and ethnicity.
“East San Jose and south county residents have been particularly hit hard as well as our Latinx community and our African ancestry communities,” Duong said during the news conference.
She said these communities are facing barriers to vaccine access, language, digital transformation and reliance, which are preventing them from accessing the vaccines.
Duong said the county’s “mass strategy” to bridge these gaps is addressing COVID-19 virus and vaccine fears while promoting equity.
These efforts include having community healthcare workers go door to door to schedule vaccine appointments and providing resources such as health care consultations to answer questions.
Duong said the community health care workers speak the county’s five threshold languages, which are Spanish, Vietnamese, Mandarin, Cantonese and Tagalog.
In order for the county to move into less restrictive tiers, Fenstersheib said it’s crucial residents get vaccinated to continue dropping case and transmission rates, including rates of COVID-19 variants.
Santa Clara County has been in the orange tier since March 24. In the orange tier, retail stores and shopping centers are open at 100% capacity while places of worship, restaurants, movie theaters, museums, zoos and aquariums are open at 50% and gyms and fitness centers are open at 25%.
“As much as we have this good news right now, we still need to remain vigilant,” Lee said. “Getting the vaccine does not mean you're safe. After vaccines, you need a second dose and you have to wait a couple of weeks after the second dose to be fully vaccinated.”
Lee said the important thing is to continue wearing masks and practicing safety protocols.
