Stanislaus County sheriff issues plea for more COVID vaccine from the state supply
Stanislaus County Sheriff Jeff Dirkse made a plea to the state Thursday for larger allocations of coronavirus vaccine.
The county was a COVID-19 hot spot for much of the past year but has suffered from a significant inequity of vaccine distribution from the state, Dirkse wrote in a letter Thursday to Gov. Gavin Newsom.
The state’s original formula for allocating COVID vaccine was largely based on the county’s healthcare workforce and 65-and-older population, rather than the level of illness in the community.
The state increased the county’s allocation this week and created a new vaccine clinic in west Modesto. But the supply is still short as agricultural workers are now eligible for inoculations and school staff need protection, the sheriff wrote.
“Ag production is ramping up for the spring season,” the letter stated. “True and honest ‘equity’ would in fact provide more vaccine than what we request, to reflect concern for the areas hit hardest during the pandemic.”
Scott Kuykendall, county superintendent of schools, put his signature on the letter to Newsom along with Dirkse, county board Chairman Vito Chiesa, county Health Officer Julie Vaishampayan, state assemblymen Adam Gray and Heath Flora, Agricultural Commissioner Milton O’Haire and Farm Bureau President Jake Wenger.
“I thought it was important,” Kuykendall said. “If you look at the vaccine allocations per 100,000 residents, Stanislaus County was getting half or less than some of the wealthier counties. Stanislaus County has been one of the most affected by COVID-19.”
Last week, Newsom said the state was devoting 10 percent of COVID vaccine allocations to educators, which is part of initiatives to get students back in schools and keep them from falling further behind on their education.
Kuykendall said Friday he does not expect Stanislaus County will a get a larger vaccine supply from the state for local efforts to vaccinate teachers and school employees against COVID-19.
After being on a call with a Newsom cabinet secretary Friday, Kuykendall said it appears Stanislaus County won’t receive more doses from the state’s vaccine priority for educators.
The state plan will distribute codes that teachers and other employees can use to get expedited appointments on the state My Turn system. But the codes will only be sent to county offices of education in communities that are giving less than 10 percent of coronavirus vaccine to educators, Kuykendall said.
A county public health spokesperson said the county’s public vaccine clinics next week will administer 4,000 doses to eligible residents, while two closed pods for education employees will administer 700 doses, which is more than 10 percent of the total.
County health officials expect to offer coronavirus vaccine to an estimated 17,400 education employees in the coming weeks or months.
Starting this week, Stanislaus County made school employees age 50 and over eligible for COVID vaccinations after focusing on health care workers, first responders and people age 65 and older over the past two months. Employees over 50 in childcare and the food and agriculture sectors were also given eligibility for vaccine.
The county Office of Education continues to work with local school districts on establishing five to eight vaccine pods, or points of dispensing, that will administer doses to large numbers of eligible school employees. The school district pods will be in addition to vaccination opportunities offered by the county.
A pod including trained nursing staff could be designated at a campus and administer shots for employees from multiple districts.
Much will depend on availability of vaccine. It’s expected to take two to three months to vaccinate school employees when eligibility is extended to other age groups, Kuykendall said.
Stanislaus County needs to get into the red tier of California’s reopening strategy before middle schools and high schools can reopen.
Kuykendall said the state has dropped a five-day wait time for reopening schools in counties that qualify for moving from the highly restrictive purple to red tier. Eliminating the wait period improves the chances of students coming back the week of March 15.
If community transmission of COVID-19 is not reduced to an average of 40 cases per day the first half of March, the return of grades 7 through 12 could be delayed until the last week in March after spring break, March 22-26.
This story was originally published February 26, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
