Parts of California open up COVID vaccines to all adults - Los Angeles Times

California won’t officially open eligibility for the COVID-19 vaccine to all adults until April 15.

But as supplies of the vaccine have increased recently — a trend state officials are optimistic will continue in the coming weeks — some parts of California now have periodic excess.

Far fewer California seniors are getting vaccinated in ‘red’ counties than urban areas.

Far fewer California seniors are getting vaccinated in ‘red’ counties than urban areas.

The vaccination site for the young from Los Angeles County is a Cal State Bakersfield facility that has more doses than patients and no restrictions.

With more COVID vaccines available, some counties expand eligibility to 16 and up.

With more COVID vaccines available, some counties expand eligibility to 16 and up.

The move will make COVID-19 vaccines available to hundreds of thousands of additional Californians in counties across the state.

Other counties have decided to move faster than advised by the state to allow all adults and some teenagers access to the vaccine.

In Southern California, Kern, Riverside and San Bernardino counties have made anyone 16 and older eligible to get a shot.

Elsewhere in California, a number of counties in the north — such as Contra Costa, Butte, Shasta and Nevada — are among those that have opened up vaccines to those ages 16 and over; most require recipients to either live or work in those counties.

Yuba and Sutter counties have made COVID-19 shots available to anyone 18 and older who lives or works there.

Last week, the county administered its 1-millionth dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

COVID-19 vaccines work well against California variant, scientists say

COVID-19 vaccines work well against California variant, scientists say

Two COVID-19 vaccines are likely to be protective against a rapidly spreading variant of the SARS-Cov-2 virus that arose in California, a study finds

Although California’s allocations of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines are expected to remain relatively steady through next week, the state — along with the rest of the nation — will see availability crater for the single-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine

This week, 574,900 Johnson & Johnson doses were allocated to the Golden State

This nosedive for Johnson & Johnson will drive down the size of the state’s federal allocation from the 2.4 million doses received this week, to 2 million next week and 1.9 million the week after that

Regardless, Ng said California will expand eligibility as planned next week

Newsom acknowledged earlier this week that supply of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine remained uncertain, but he said he was hopeful for more stability

The availability — or lack thereof — of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine isn’t a problem only for California

Rollout of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine has been inconsistent and dogged by production issues

To date, providers throughout California have doled out nearly 20.9 million COVID-19 vaccine doses, and 35.1% of residents have received at least one shot, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Roughly 18.8% of Californians are fully vaccinated, meaning they’ve either received the single-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine or both required doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccine

During the early phases of the vaccine rollout, California restricted access to the shots to those considered at highest risk from COVID-19, either because of their age, occupation or underlying health conditions