California To Vaccinate Residents 65 Or Older Against COVID-19
January 13, 20217:20 PM ETDUSTIN JONES
Enlarge this imageA pharmacist administering a COVID-19 vaccine in Santa Rosa, Calif., Wednesday. California Gov. Gavin Newsom aims to get 1 million doses of the vaccines administered before the end of the week.
Justin Sullivan/Getty ImagesCalifornia Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Wednesday that residents 65 and older are eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. He aims to administer an additional 1 million doses by the end of the week, a
California Dept. of Public Health statement said.
As of Wednesday, California had administered about 890,000 of their 3.43 million doses of the vaccine, the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported. The state has set up mass-immunization sites in sports stadiums and fairgrounds to expedite distribution. Additionally, 36,000 dentists were added to the pool of personnel allowed to administer the vaccines, the news release said.
"We are significantly increasing our efforts to get these vaccines administered, get them out of freezers and get them into people's arms," Newsom said in a video posted to Twitter Wednesday. "One of the most significant things we can do is increase the number of people eligible to ... receive the vaccine and that's what we're doing today, announcing everybody 65 and over — about 6.6 million Californians — we are now pulling into the tier to make available vaccines."
About 90% of Californians are still under Newsom's regional stay-at-home order, which went into effect early last December. The state recorded just under 300,000 new COVID-19 cases and 3,510 deaths in the last week. However, these numbers seem to have leveled out in recent days