CA Reaches Another Milestone: 1 In 4 Adults Fully Vaccinated

CALIFORNIA — Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Monday that one in four Californians are fully vaccinated just days after the Golden State crossed the benchmark of administering at least one shot to 50 percent of Californians 16 and older.

This looks good on paper and is an encouraging sign, but it doesn't necessarily mean that a quarter of Californians have achieved the maximum immunity that the vaccines offer.

People are considered fully vaccinated two weeks after a second dose of either the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines or a single dose of Johnson & Johnson's Janssen vaccine, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The first shot of the two-dose vaccines is considered to have up to 80 percent effectiveness in preventing illness, but that number is "somewhat tenuous," Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's leading infectious disease doctor, said last week. It isn't known how long that protection lasts, which is why experts urge Californians not to skip their second shot or to take too many risks between doses or immediately after their second shot.

"You’re in a tenuous zone if you don’t have the full impact," Fauci said.

California has weathered a particularly embattled vaccine rollout over the last few months, but it appears that the state is picking up its inoculation speed, even with the halt placed on Johnson & Johnson vaccines, which Fauci said could resume distribution as early as Friday.

Last week, the state began receiving its highly anticipated boost in vaccine supply, further allowing counties to accelerate distribution to all Californians 16 and older.

To date, the state has administered 25,790,401 vaccine shots, with around 10 million Californians fully vaccinated, according to state data.

Across the United States, 25.4 percent of Americans are fully vaccinated, and 39.5 percent have received at least one shot, according to the CDC.

Meanwhile, the state was able to sustain a lower than ever positivity rate: 1.4 percent. Hospitalizations have plummeted. Officials said that the state is on track to reopen this summer even with the temporary pause of the J&J product and the presence of highly contagious variants.

"We are still targeting June 15," Dr. Mark Ghaly, the state's health secretary, told reporters at an event hosted by the Sacramento Press Club last week. "So far, the variants we have been concerned about have largely been entirely responsive to the vaccine. We don’t have a variant that completely escapes our vaccines."

A mask mandate may remain, but officials hope to return Californians to some semblance of normalcy by the summer. "Many of the things that we’ve missed we’ll be able to do again," Ghaly said. "The big difference, though, is we will likely not have our youngest children vaccinated, so we will still need to protect young people."

California met a key equity goal last week, Newsom said in a news conference in the Bay Area last week. "The number I'm most proud of, though not yet satisfied with yet, is the 4.84 million vaccines that have gone into our most impacted communities in the state," Newsom said Thursday.

SEE ALSO: Half Of Californians 16+ Are At Least Partially Vaccinated

The state last month set a goal of 40 percent of its vaccine supply going to the lowest-income ZIP codes. When California hit its 2 million vaccine mark in those ZIP codes last month, it allowed counties to reopen more quickly.

This week, the state again adjusted its Blueprint for a Safer Economy reopening plan to allow for "somewhat higher" case rates in the red, orange and yellow tiers to reflect the equity metric. To date, more than 82 percent of Californians were living under the orange or moderate tier, a significant improvement from several weeks ago. It remains to be seen whether the state will set another equity metric.

Despite the progress, officials still pleaded with the public to continue prevention measures, especially in places such as Los Angeles County, where the virus ran rampant more than in other areas.

"As the weather gets warmer, and we go out to enjoy all that our beautiful county has to offer, let's keep up with the straightforward safety measures that have reduced transmission," Los Angeles County public health Director Barbara Ferrer said Saturday. "Increased contact between people from different households creates more opportunities for transmission of COVID-19. When we get vaccinated, wear face coverings, keep our distance and implement safeguards at workplaces, our actions minimize transmission and prevent severe health outcomes."

California Coronavirus Data As Of Monday

• 3,618,695 confirmed cases to date.

• 1,916 newly recorded confirmed cases Sunday.

• 1.4 percent is the seven-day positivity rate.

• 57,934,087 tests have been conducted in California.

• 59,772 COVID-19 deaths have been reported since the start of the pandemic.