Stanislaus County has 4,500 doses of Johnson & Johnson COVID vaccine. Who gets them?
Stanislaus County’s coronavirus vaccine supply was boosted by delivery of 4,500 doses of the newly approved Johnson & Johnson vaccine this week.
But the county will likely wait a couple of weeks for more of the one-dose vaccine to arrive, because of delays caused by manufacturing issues.
County public health will give some of the Johnson & Johnson shots at two clinics Friday at Modesto Centre Plaza, said spokesperson Kamlesh Kaur. The county will have a closed clinic there for educators and childcare workers, while the public clinic at Centre Plaza for eligible residents is scheduled for single-dose Johnson & Johnson and second-dose Pfizer shots.
Kaur said the manufacturing issues with Johnson & Johnson, also called Janssen vaccine, are not a big setback for the county’s COVID vaccination effort.
“We will continue to plan our vaccination clinics and allocations to other providers based on the total amount of vaccine received, regardless of the manufacturer,” Kaur said in an email. “We are encouraged that the total amount of vaccine coming into the county for our community is increasing.”
At a crucial time for vaccinating school employees and those who work in food and agriculture industries, the county’s allocation from the state increased to 9,000 doses last week and more vaccine has been coming in from federal sources. The county hasn’t received word on its next allocation from the state.
Kaur said 5,688 first doses and 2,146 second shots were being administered this week at public clinics, special closed pods and mobile clinics. In addition, the OptumServe clinic in west Modesto has 1,870 doses and was jabbing 374 people per day.
The county also has the Janssen shots, bringing the total to 14,204 this week.
Community health clinics and pharmacies are also getting direct distributions of coronavirus vaccine from federal programs. Golden Valley Health Centers, with numerous clinics in underserved communities in Merced, Stanislaus and San Joaquin counties, said Wednesday it has received thousands of doses through a federal program for health centers.
CVS Health said drugstores in Stanislaus County are among the 119 additional CVS pharmacies in California that will administer coronavirus vaccines through the Federal Retail Pharmacy Program. People eligible in Phase 1A and 1B can book appointments at CVS.com starting Saturday; shots will be administered as early as Sunday.
According to a state dashboard, almost 127,000 first and second doses of coronavirus vaccine have been administered in Stanislaus County, which is home to around 560,000 residents. Health experts believe herd immunity is achieved when 70 percent of a population is vaccinated against a contagious illness, making a fully vaccinated 392,000 residents the magic number for this county.
Kaur said the county had a large turnout for a clinic Wednesday at Stanislaus State University in Turlock and the Patterson clinic ran out of doses shortly after 3 p.m.
The county continues to work on vaccinations for school employees in preparation for opening middle schools and high schools later this month, though the county’s daily case rate remains stubbornly above the state’s threshold for reopening those schools for in-class instruction.
There is also urgency to vaccinate workers in food production and agricultural industries, who become susceptible to COVID-19 when work resumes in the spring. The county hopes to avoid a repeat of coronavirus outbreaks from June to August last year that infected many food and agriculture workers and overwhelmed local hospitals.
Other people who are eligible for COVID vaccine in Stanislaus County are seniors age 65 and older, restaurant and grocery store employees and emergency services staff.
Starting Monday, people with disabilities and certain medical conditions such as cancer, diabetes and heart disease will be added to the eligibility list.
The Stanislaus County Health Services Agency has information about coronavirus vaccines and public clinics, health care providers and pharmacies that offer the shots at www.schsa.org. The Stanemergency Facebook page provides updates on vaccination clinics and the local response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
This story was originally published March 11, 2021 at 1:56 PM.
