California has achieved a milestone in its five-month vaccination campaign: More than 50% of residents have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 antigen, according to an analysis by the Los Angeles Times.
Today, approximately 19.6 million Californians have received at least one injection. Overall, about 38% of California residents are fully vaccinated, meaning they have had both Pfizer or Moderna injections, or the single-dose Johnson & Johnson antigen.
After initially slow implementation, the state has gained firm ground when it comes to vaccine administration.
The entity ranks 12th among all states in the nation for having the highest percentage of its residents vaccinated with at least one dose, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of the United States (CDC, for its acronym in English). ).
The states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island, as well as New Jersey, have been able to vaccinate their residents faster across the country. Entities that are still behind include Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama.
Six to seven weeks after the start of the inoculation process, in early February, around 150,000 doses were administered every day. In early April, California hit its fastest pace – an average of 400,000 injections a day.
Since then, there has been a drop in the rate of vaccinations to approximately 250,000 doses per day.
To inoculate more people, officials in some parts of California are beginning to close mass vaccination sites, to dedicate more resources to mobile and pop-up clinics that can offer easier access in some of the state’s hardest-hit neighborhoods.
Health officials hope vaccination rates won’t continue to drop too fast, and this week they announced that teens ages 12-15 are now eligible for Pfizer’s antigen. They hope that this may also spark renewed interest among older family members who remain uninoculated. Immunizations are given free to residents, regardless of insurance or immigration status.
Although mass vaccination sites at sports arenas and fairgrounds were established in the early months of the strategy, those efforts may have bypassed some of the people who needed them most: those living in disadvantaged neighborhoods, crowded housing, and the poor. that they needed to work outside the home.
“These large county inoculation sites were less effective in reaching residents of the hardest hit communities,” said Dr. Paul Simon, chief scientific officer for the Los Angeles Department of Public Health.
“Transportation and other access barriers at these sites may have contributed to some of the earliest inequities and vaccination rates in the county, requiring additional efforts to target the most affected communities through neighborhood-specific clinics and other approaches. “Simon said in a recent presentation to the legislature.
In contrast, wealthier people who worked from home were more successful at booking vaccination appointments online, and also had free time, as well as access to a car, to travel long distances to reach inoculation sites .
This disparity can be seen throughout California.
In Los Angeles alone, about 80% of residents in the city’s whitest and wealthiest neighborhoods in the west, such as Century City, Cheviot Hills and Playa Vista, have received at least one dose. But in predominantly Black and Latino communities, such as Watts, Westlake, and Florence-Firestone, as well as Compton and Lancaster, less than 40% of residents have been partially vaccinated.
Where you live can matter too. Only 43% of the people who live in the most deprived areas of California are at least partially vaccinated, while 63% of those who live in the most affluent areas have received at least one injection.
Statewide, only 34% of Latinos and 35% of black residents have acquired at least one dose, compared with 50% of whites, 47% of Native Americans, and 61% of Asian American or of Pacific Islander descent.
Officials have expressed optimism that the deployment of mobile vaccination teams and pop-up clinics in the worst affected neighborhoods will help increase inoculation rates.
However, there can also be disparities within a racial group.
In Silicon Valley, in Santa Clara County, officials found that only 45% of Filipino Americans aged 16 and over had received at least one dose of the vaccine, compared with 59% of residents of Chinese origin. , 64% of Americans of Indian origin and 74% of residents of Vietnamese origin.
Officials are also making efforts to encourage vaccination among younger adults, who officials say have been especially prone to spreading the virus.
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