Vaccine Distribution In CoCo, Bay Area: Health Officers Explain

BAY AREA, CA — As nurses, doctors and other health care workers caring for COVID-19 patients in Contra Costa County and the Bay Area receive the first, small batches this week of a rigorously tested coronavirus vaccine, the region's health officers see hope: we now have a critical tool to help fight this pandemic.

Vaccines arrived this week in San Francisco, Contra Costa, San Joaquin, San Mateo and Santa Clara counties, and California is expecting to receive nearly 400,000 doses of coronavirus vaccine by the end of the week. That is in addition to the 327,600 doses the state has already been distributing, Gov. Gavin Newsom said.

The state received its first shipment of roughly 33,000 vaccines from the pharmaceutical company Pfizer on Monday and Newsom said the state expected to receive another 393,000 vaccine doses from Pfizer later in the week, as well as 672,000 doses of the vaccine developed by the biotechnology company Moderna by the end of the month.

Assuming the Moderna vaccine receives approval soon from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Newsom said the state could have as many as 2.1 million vaccine doses by the beginning of January.

Bay Area Health Officers Support State, Federal Vaccine Distribution Guidelines

In a joint statement Tuesday, the 12 health officers for the counties of Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Monterey, Napa, San Benito, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Sonoma and the City of Berkeley said they support the state's vaccine distribution guidelines, which now prioritize health care workers in acute care facilities.

"The arrival of the vaccine is a hopeful sign and it gives us another critical tool as we fight this pandemic," said Dr. Sundari Mase, Sonoma County’s health officer. "Our health care partners can now begin vaccinating frontline workers and those most vulnerable for getting COVID."

The vaccinations in acute care hospital settings follow a federal and state framework adopted locally that will also soon protect those living in skilled nursing facilities, settings where elderly, vulnerable members of our communities are more likely to have severe illness and die from COVID-19.

Each jurisdiction will use that roadmap to implement the distribution of vaccines in this first phase, which may take several months as supplies increase, the health officers said.

Vaccines for the general public may be available by early summer, the health officers said.

As vaccine supplies grow to eventually include other groups, the health officers and federal officials believe vaccines will work in tandem with the daily habits and essential public health work that will ultimately end the pandemic.

Those key steps to fight the pandemic include public health work to protect high-risk groups and health care workers, identifying and isolating cases, and also tracing and quarantining contacts, the health officers said.

For the public, it means wearing face coverings, avoiding gatherings, postponing travel, and staying home whenever possible.

"This first batch of vaccine will protect those at critical risk of infection and give promise to our future," said Dr. Karen Relucio, Napa County health officer. "As we await increasing vaccine supply, letting our guard down too soon is dangerous. Smart choices and healthy daily habits for the pandemic are critical to protecting the rest of us."

All of the region's health officers plan to take the vaccine when the opportunity comes.

These early doses of the COVID-19 vaccine come amid an unprecedented surge of cases regionally and statewide. As hospitals’ intensive care units reach capacity, regional stay-at-home orders are now in effect in more than 90 percent of the state of California.

"In this darkest hour, the vaccine gives us a beacon to show the direction we’re headed," said Dr. Lisa Hernandez, health officer for the city of Berkeley. "The actions and daily habits we each take increase the light on that path and improve safety for all."

Bay City News Service contributed to this report.