Santa Clara Co. Opens Thousands Of Vaccine Appointments To 16+

CAMPBELL, CA — Despite the news that Johnson & Johnson vaccines will be nixed from California's allocation, Santa Clara County will forge ahead with plans to open up tens of thousands of vaccine appointments to everyone 16 and older this week, officials announced Tuesday.

More appointments are expected to also be added the following week, county authorities said at an afternoon press briefing.

"We've built the infrastructure and the capacity and now finally supply has arrived," Dr. Jennifer Tong, associate chief medical officer.

The county will pause the use of Johnson & Johnson doses for now after the federal government reported that a handful of vaccine recipients had developed adverse effects.

Some 60,000 people in Santa Clara County have been given the single-dose vaccine in question.

Although an official number wasn't immediately available, Dr. Marty Fenstersheib, the county's coronavirus testing and vaccine officer, estimated that the county has placed a "few thousand" doses on hold until more guidance from the federal government is released.

For those who recently received the J&J vaccine, Fenstersheib advised that patients should monitor for severe headache, abdominal pain, leg pain or shortness of breath, he said. If any of those symptoms are observed, medical treatment should be sought.

"These conditions are extremely rare, none occurred in California," he said.

Six people — all women between 18 and 48 — developed serious blood clots 6 to 13 days after being inoculated. One woman died, and a second woman in Nebraska was hospitalized in critical condition.

Despite this news, county officials anticipate being able to cover all scheduled appointments by swapping J&J doses out for Pfizer or Moderna.

The county said will also continue efforts to reach the low-income and heavily impacted communities. Local health workers able to speak Spanish, Vietnamese, Chinese, Mandarin, Cantonese and Tagalog are available to assist residents with vaccine appointments.

"We have well over 100 community health workers going door to door in our most hardest-hit communities with iPads in hand to schedule folks for their vaccination appointments," said Betty Young, a public information officer for the county, adding that the 1,000 appointments per week have been scheduled this way.

Through the county's mobile vaccination program, 20,000 doses have been administered to date.

Santa Clara County has the capacity to vaccinate nearly 30,000 people per day, officials said Tuesday. But supply has remained an issue up until this week.

"Santa Clara County, in my view, hasn't really gotten the fair share that it really should have given our population," Fenstersheib said. "So I think this is the appropriate amount of vaccine that we should be getting."

Some 300,000 vaccines are expected to arrive in the county this week, according to District 3 Supervisor Otto Lee. In previous weeks, the county has only gotten around 50,000 to 70,000 doses per week.

"We've been waiting for this day for a long, long time," Lee said. "This is really a game changer."

The county received the large vaccine shipment from the federal government on Tuesday morning. More supplies are expected to arrive next week.

Community members can schedule a vaccine appointment through the county's website, sccfreevax.org.