Half Of Californians 16+ Are At Least Partially Vaccinated

CALIFORNIA — Despite recent production pitfalls with the Johnson & Johnson vaccine and an initially sluggish rollout, half of Golden State residents 16 and older have received at least one shot of a coronavirus vaccine, according to the state.

The benchmark lands California on the 11th ranking among all states, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which also reported that 52 percent of adults 18 and were at least partially vaccinated.

"This historic milestone is a wonderful sign that Californians understand COVID-19 vaccinations are safe and effective and that our entire state is committed to getting to immunity," Dr. Tomás J. Aragón, State Public Health Officer and Director of the California Department of Public Health wrote in a statement.

Meanwhile, the state is reopening rapidly and Californians are returning to indoor events and social gatherings amid warnings of another spike arising in other states. But some experts remain hopeful that the Golden State is on the right track to safely reopen California by its target date, June 15.

"At the end of December, beginning of January, we had among the highest case rates, if not the highest case rates in the country," Dr. Timothy Brewer told Patch. "We're now in the bottom third, so we're doing well, relative to much of the country." Brewer is a professor of infectious diseases at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles.

While states in the Midwest have seen recent evidence of another spike, Brewer explained that California could avoid a summer surge with the help of recent vaccination rates, coupled with what he called "the beginnings of a herd immunity" — at least in hard-hit counties.

In Los Angeles County, considered the state's coronavirus epicenter, there have been about 1.2 million reported coronavirus cases, but those are the only infections officials can confirm, he said.

"Which means that we've had probably three or four times that number of cases that we don't know about," Brewer said. "Add on top of that the number of people that have been vaccinated and you're starting to get up around where 50 to 60 percent of the population in L.A. County has either been infected or vaccinated."

With those figures in mind, Brewer said he suspects the state could reopen even before June 15 if case rates remain low and vaccinations continue to rise. But despite this hopeful news, he also warned that more snags in the vaccine rollout could present themselves.

"This may all change because I don't know what percentage of California vaccines were reliant on Johnson & Johnson," he said. "So that may slow everything down...but I think in general if we can maintain the vaccination rates that we've been achieving the last couple of weeks, if anything we'll likely open up sooner than June 15."

Even with this notable progress, officials are still pleading with the public to continue prevention measures, as infection is still possible even for those who are vaccinated.

"As the weather gets warmer and we go out to enjoy all what our beautiful county has to offer, let's keep up with the straight-forward safety measures that have reduced transmission," L.A. 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," she said.

Brewer also expressed concern about coronavirus fatigue and hesitancy among some Californians to get the vaccine.

"Hopefully, people will not use their fatigue as an excuse not to get vaccinated or if they are vaccinated, to stop doing those other measures that are so important, because we do know that people who have been vaccinated, while the vaccines are very effective against preventing disease, they're not 100 percent effective against preventing infection," he said.

To date, California has administered nearly 26 million vaccine doses, Gov. Gavin Newsom said Sunday.

"That's nearly 10 million more than any other state. And more than all but 5 countries in the world," he tweeted.

What's more, California also crossed a key equity metric last week, Newsom announced at a news conference in the Bay Area on Thursday.

"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.

In March, the state began setting 40 percent of its vaccine supply to the lowest-income ZIP codes. When California hit its 2 million vaccine mark in these ZIP codes last month, it allowed counties to reopen more quickly.

This week, the state yet again adjusted its Blueprint for a Safety 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 advancement from even several weeks ago.

It remains to be seen whether the state will set another equity metric.

California coronavirus data as of Sunday

• 3,616,779 confirmed cases to date.

• 2,667 newly recorded confirmed cases Saturday.

• 1.5% is the 7-day positivity rate.

• 57,733,460 tests have been conducted in California.

• 59,768 COVID-19 deaths have been reported since the start of the pandemic.