Solano County Urges State To Send More Vaccine

Press release from the Solano County Government:

March 22, 2021

SOLANO COUNTY, CA — The Solano County Department of Health and Social Services, Public Health division, is urging the California Department of Public Health to allocate more COVID-19 vaccine to the County after experiencing a steep decline.

“We’ve seen a significant decline in the allocation of vaccine to the County in recent allocations,” says Bela T. Matyas, M.D., M.P.H., Solano County Health Officer. “The lack of adequate supply has caused us to pause scheduling many first-dose mass-vaccination clinics, drastically slowing our effort to target and vaccinate our most vulnerable populations.”

Over the past two weeks, Solano County’s vaccine allocation from the State has been the third lowest for allocation per 1,000 residents of all 58 California Counties. While Solano County has already administered 134,000 vaccines to date, the new allocations of available doses have dropped by 60 percent.

Solano County is receiving substantially less vaccine allocation than all other similar-sized counties, many of which have higher median household incomes. Monterey County – the county the State uses to compare with Solano County based on population and demographics – has received 17,100 (or 59.4 percent) more allocation of the Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccine than Solano County in the past five weeks.

“We want to continue getting these critically needed vaccines in people’s arms,” says John M. Vasquez, District 4 Supervisor and Chair of the Board of Supervisors. “We have the partnerships, infrastructure and demand, we just don’t have the vaccine that we need. My colleagues and I on the Board of Supervisors will be making phone calls and sending a letter to the Governor’s Office and our elected representatives, urging them to help us secure more vaccine.”

This press release was produced by the Solano County Government. The views expressed here are the author’s own.