California is one of the slowest states in the nation when it comes to rolling out coronavirus vaccines, data from the Centers for Disease Control show — even as virus cases surge, overburdened hospitals turn away patients and record numbers of people die.
Travis Whisler of Long Beach, left, an employee with the Orange County Fire Authority, receives his COVID-19 vaccine in Irvine on Jan. 9, 2021. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)South Dakota was more than twice as speedy as California at pushing shots into people’s arms as of Tuesday, Jan. 12. It had vaccinated 5,451 of every 100,000 residents, ranking No. 1 among all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico.

The Golden State trailed far behind, at No. 44, vaccinating just 1,981 of every 100,000 residents.

While an enormous state like California faces complicated logistics, two other large, heavily populated states are also vaccinating people far more quickly than is California. Both New York and Texas eclipsed California’s pace by some 50 percent (shots in 2,979 of every 100,000 arms in New York and 2,938 of every 100,000 in Texas). Those states ranked No. 18 and 21, respectively.

Even Louisiana and Puerto Rico, not particularly known for efficient infrastructure, are doing better than California.

“Part of the process that we’ve set up here in California — really thoughtful, trying to focus on risk and exposure and equity — has led to some delays in getting vaccine out into our communities,” said Mark Ghaly, secretary of the California Health and Human Services Agency, on Tuesday, Jan. 12.

Gov. Gavin Newsom said that “We recognize that the current strategy is not going to get us where we need to go as quickly as we all need to go” at a briefing Monday, Jan. 11.

We simply cannot stay closed until the vaccine hits critical mass. The cost is too high. We will have nothing left to open. We must reopen the economy, but we must do it smartly and safely.

Xtreme87

HEALTH

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