State To Expand Vaccine Eligibility, San Mateo County Health Focuses On Equity, Speed In Millbrae

Press release from the City of Millbrae:

March 29, 2021

With supply of vaccines expected to significantly increase in the coming weeks, the State is expanding vaccine eligibility to more Californians. Starting April 1, individuals aged 50+ will be eligible to make an appointment, and individuals 16+ will be eligible to make an appointment to be vaccinated starting on April 15. Read the state news release.

Louise Rogers, chief of San Mateo County Health, issued the following statement on the County’s vaccination efforts:

“In San Mateo County, we expect to continue to align with the State's eligibility definitions and we look forward to the time when everyone is eligible. Our focus will remain equity, speed and scale in our local approach.

We also look forward to having greater predictability of supply – the State has relayed that they hope to offer a three-week projection. This will help us reach eligible residents with better planning and to give residents more time to schedule or come to a vaccine clinic.

The current supply constraints and limited advance notice make it more difficult to reach those with less flexibility in their work, care-giving, or personal responsibilities.

If the opening of eligibility aligns with much more supply to the County, we would expect to continue to mobilize locally targeted clinics in our most vulnerable communities, as well as offering mass vaccination at high-throughput sites such as the SMC Event Center and the SFO Long Term Parking garage.

Our work during the last several weeks to mobilize both targeted and large-scale vaccine efforts positions us well to scale up and achieve even greater reach more quickly—if there is more supply of the vaccine.

We see all three of the approved vaccines as safe and effective and will continue to use all three across all settings. Since each vaccine has different requirements for handling, we have found it advantageous from a quality management and efficiency perspective to offer only one type of vaccine at a time at each clinic.”

A total of 263,664 individuals have received at least one COVID-19 vaccine shot in San Mateo County through Wednesday, March 24, 2021, up nearly 50,000 from the prior week.

Of the total, 132,4451 individuals have completed the vaccination series, bringing the total number of doses administered to 390,884.

As of March 17, 2021, of all county residents that had received the vaccine, 51.2% identify as people of color, 31.5% identify as white and 17.3% identify as other/unknown.

County Health continues to work with community partners on outreach to groups eligible to receive the vaccine.

While COVID-19 vaccine supply remains limited, residents can sign up for the County’s notification tool at https://bit.ly/3fquycC to receive notification when the State makes them eligible and information about how to get a vaccine appointment. Residents can also sign up for the State’s MyTurn tool at myturn.ca.gov

This press release was produced by the City of Millbrae. The views expressed here are the author’s own.