Newsom expands access to COVID vaccine. Here’s when you can get it in Stanislaus County
California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Thursday that eligibility for coronavirus vaccinations will expand to people age 50 and older next week.
The governor went further by declaring that anyone 16 and older can get the shots to guard against COVID-19 illness starting April 15. The eligibility for adults 50 or older begins next Thursday, or April 1.
A spokesman for the Stanislaus County Health Services Agency said after the announcement the state’s new guidelines will be followed at the public vaccine clinics operated by the county.
“We are excited to make the COVID-19 vaccine more accessible to more residents,” county spokesman Robert Moser said in an email. “There is undoubtedly going to be a huge demand for the vaccine, but we are confident that our mass vaccination clinics and network of providers can step up and meet the demand, as long as we have enough vaccine to do so.”
During an announcement in Southern California, Newsom said the decision to start vaccinating the general public was based on an anticipated increase in vaccine shipments from the federal government.
Stanislaus County’s vaccination clinics in Modesto, Turlock, Oakdale and Patterson have been constrained by a limited supply of vaccine doses, but county officials say they are equipped to administer more vaccine than has been allocated in the past.
Moser said the county’s mass vaccination sites such as Modesto Centre Plaza and the clinic at Stanislaus State University in Turlock are capable of handling rather large capacities.
“We have the ability to scale up by opening more days per week as soon as we receive more vaccine,” Moser said.
With the larger vaccine supply, the county also will look to expand mobile vaccination units, which improve accessibility for residents that otherwise have less access, Moser added.
The county’s most recent allocation from the state was 9,550 first doses and it also received 10,220 second doses on Sunday. Along with operating the public vaccine clinics, the county distributes some doses to health care providers and to other partners that administer the shots.
According to a state news release, the federal government is expected to increase California’s weekly allocation by 700,000 additional doses in the first two weeks of April. The state has been getting 1.8 million doses per week, but that’s expected to jump to 2.5 million a week after April 1.
The weekly allocations for California are projected to grow to 3 million doses in the second half of April. “These estimates may be adjusted as time goes on,” the news release said.
The state said a new method for distributing vaccine to local providers will be based on the 16-and-older population in local jurisdictions. The allocations to counties have been tied to the population of eligible groups including residents 65 and older and people working in education, childcare, food and agriculture and emergency services.
As a general rule, Stanislaus County has received about 1.3 percent of California’s allocation. That could mean the county will get as much as 45,500 doses a week in April, but the state is changing the allocation formula.
Sutter hopes to receive more vaccine
In a statement, Sutter Health of Sacramento was hopeful of getting a larger supply of vaccine for its patients in the Central Valley and Bay Area.
“We will continue to expand our eligibility in accordance with state guidance, but our ability to actually schedule appointments for patients remains dependent on supply,” Sutter’s statement said. “While our first-dose allocations remain low, we are hopeful that the significant volume of vaccine that California is receiving will positively impact Sutter’s allocation and enable us to fully utilize the capacity we’ve built to vaccinate more than 25,000 patients a day.”
Sutter has a center in Modesto for vaccinating local patients against COVID-19 and administers the vaccine at other locations in the Northern San Joaquin Valley.
This story was originally published March 25, 2021 at 12:05 PM.
