COVID Vaccines: As California Eligibility Expands, Experts Say Delays May Be Short-Lived - 'It's Ramping Up'
SAN JOSE (KPIX 5) – Getting a COVID-19 vaccine appointment in California remains difficult in many places as eligibility just expanded, but experts say the delays may be short-lived.
"This is the day I was waiting for, for almost a year," said a gentleman named Mirag after receiving his first Pfizer dose. "So I'm feeling very excited!"
The newest vaccination site in San Jose, a Kaiser clinic targeting vulnerable populations.
"We have a lot of members on the east side," says Efren Rosas, Physician-In-Chief for Kaiser San Jose. "The community needs help on the east side and it's just easier for us to be here."
But while this site was launching, getting an appointment in Santa Clara County remains difficult. When access opened to those 50 and older this week, the county's appointment page filled up immediately. That's now the case in many parts of California.
"I think these are sort of moments in time," said UCSF Epidemiologist George Rutherford. "According to the White House task force and the president the stuff is coming off the assembly line like hotcakes."
More supply is coming for the 7 million Californians who became eligible this week. So how long might it take to work through that population?
"Right now California is vaccinating 350,000 people a day," Rutherford told KPIX 5. "That's 3 1/2 million every 10 days."
And that number is about to jump to 4 million people every 10 days, so the 50 and older set will not have to wait long.
"I think that the vaccine supply is ramping up," Rosas said. "It's ramping up, and we're going to get to the point where we are going to have probably more vaccine than we need. That's where we want to be."
