California Vaccine chaos amid mixed messaging

The chaos and confusion many Californians experienced this week in their search for a COVID-19 vaccine only intensified as Gov. Gavin Newsom revealed that the state would not receive an additional supply of doses it was counting on to accelerate vaccination. 

Newsom said he, like other governors, expected about 50 million doses to be released from storage by the feds in the next few days. “And then we read, as everybody else, that they have reneged or … are unable to deliver on that,” he said at a news conference unveiling a new mass vaccination site at Dodger Stadium. 

The governor said he does expect there to be enough vaccine for Californians who already have received their first shot and need the required second dose. But the state needs to verify the supply it will be given, he said. 

Federal officials had promised states an expanded supply of vaccine and demanded they start vaccinating people 65 and older and those with documented preexisting conditions to speed the slow pace of immunizations nationwide. 

But a national stockpile of vaccines held back for necessary second doses appears to have been depleted, meaning that states won’t get the amount of vaccine they were counting on to dramatically ramp up mass vaccination campaigns, according to a Washington Post report Friday. 

Newsom last week announced an audacious goal of immunizing 1 million people in 10 days, under mounting political pressure over the state’s slow vaccine rollout. But at least 450,000 people would need to receive shots today to fulfill that goal. The state is on pace to achieve it, Newsom said, adding that there is a lag in the state’s data reporting.

California has used about 30% of the doses it has been allocated from the federal government while Texas has used about 55%, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. California ranks 43rd among states in the proportion of people it has immunized. 

On Wednesday, following hastily-announced federal guidance, Newsom said that anyone 65 and older could now be immunized — broadening a complicated priority system that previously reserved doses for health workers and nursing home residents.

Local public health officials and health systems weren’t at all ready for an onslaught of potentially 6 million seniors. Not all adopted the state’s recommendation, creating a patchwork of access that Californians are now trying to decipher. 

Reports of glitches mounted as counties launched dozens of different online platforms for appointment sign-ups and waiting lists. Tiny Inyo County, with about 18,000 residents, had to ask people to sign up with just a Google form. 

Californians across the state reported finding every appointment taken online and voiced their outrage on social media. They held on phone lines for hours. Their bewilderment and frustration only grew as they learned that some vaccination sites would only accept people 75 and older, while some would accept those 65 and above. And some still would only immunize health workers because they didn’t have enough doses for everyone. 

“Any rollout like this is bound to run into snags, but this level of problems is concerning,” said Dorit Rubinstein Reiss, professor and vaccine expert at UC Hastings College of Law. “Every day we wait, thousands of people are at risk of dying.”

The state’s public health agency reported 42,655 new cases and 637 deaths as a more infectious “U.K.” coronavirus variant spreads across California and nationwide. About 32 cases of the variant have been reported in California, more than any other state, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

California continues its winter surge — the worst since the pandemic started. About 13% of tests are coming back positive, although hospitalizations are beginning to decrease slightly, according to the latest state data. 

Leah Russin, co-founder of the advocacy group Vaccinate California, empathized with local public health officials who, she said, have been asked to roll out mass vaccination campaigns at the same time as they’re battling the worst surge of the pandemic. But Californians deserve better, she said. 

“It feels like some decisions have been made that haven’t been thoroughly explained and they may increase inequity or confusion. Neither of those things are good at a time when we’re fighting against extraordinary mistrust of government,” said Leah Russin, co-founder of Vaccinate California.

“We have to be exceedingly transparent and do it fast, without mistakes. I know I’m asking us to be amazing, but we have to be.”