Newsom Gets One-Shot Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 Vaccine

LOS ANGELES, CA — Gov. Gavin Newsom received a dose of the one-shot Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine Thursday in Baldwin Hills, while touting the vaccine as a game-changer for California.

The vaccine requires only one dose and is much easier to store than the Pfizer/Moderna vaccines. California is counting on the one-dose vaccine to help get tens of millions of adults vaccinated by June. However, a manufacturing snafu in Baltimorerevealed Wednesday could thwart the state's goal. The manufacturing error ruined 15 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson shot just as California is scheduled to receive 572,700 doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine next week.

Newsom told reporters Thursday he doesn't expect the manufacturing snafu to impact the state's supply of the vaccination for at least three weeks.

"Our three-week window on Johnson & Johnson has not been impacted by this manufacturing issue in Baltimore," Newsom said. "Which means ... we anticipate receiving 572,700 doses next week of J-and-J, 215,400 a week later, and 215,400 the week after that. That's the window they have given us confidence to say is secure."

But after that, "it's an open-ended question," Newsom said.

Newsom noted that the vaccine he received Thursday morning at a mobile Federal Emergency Management Agency clinic came from the Netherlands.

The state is expecting to receive 2.4 million Pfizer/Moderna doses next week, with Newsom noting that's up from two weeks ago, when the state was allocated 1.8 million. As of Thursday, more than 18 million doses of vaccine have been administered across the state, with Newsom saying about 31% of Californians have received at least one dose.

Also as of Thursday, more than 3.6 million doses of vaccine have been administered in the lowest-income, hardest-hit communities in the state. When that number reaches 4 million, the state will again make it easier for counties to advance to less restrictive tiers in the Blueprint for a Safer Economy, which guides business reopenings during the pandemic.

Los Angeles County is in the orange tier of that matrix, thanks to an average new daily COVID case rate of 3.1 per 100,000 residents. Under current requirements, the county cannot advance to the least-restrictive yellow tier until that rate falls below 1 per 100,000 residents. But when the state reaches the 4-million vaccination milestone in hard-hit communities, the requirement will increase to 2 per 100,000 residents.

The county's testing-positivity rate for the overall population and in hard-hit communities both already meet the yellow tier requirements.

City News Service and Patch Staffer Paige Austin contributed to this report.