Contra Costa County on Monday announced it is expanding coronavirus vaccine eligibility to people 50 and older who live or work in the county, becoming the second Bay Area county after Solano to do so.
California has not expanded eligibility to people 50 and older, but does plan to open up vaccinations to people 16 and older by the last week of April, Gov. Gavin Newsom said Friday. The California Department of Public Health on Monday declined to say whether it will first expand eligibility to those 50 and older before opening it up to everyone else.
If California goes the same route as New York and a number of other states, it could take the incremental step of adding those 50 and older to the priority list soon. California is currently giving vaccine priority to people 65 and older, essential workers in certain sectors, homeless and incarcerated residents, and people between 16 and 64 with disabilities or underlying health conditions.
It’s been about two months since the state opened up eligibility to people 65 and over. Older adults are at greater risk of becoming severely ill or dying from COVID-19, so basing eligibility on age was an effort by policymakers to lessen the burden on hospitals.
Contra Costa’s announcement means that people between 50 and 64 do not need to have a disability or underlying medical condition, or work in a qualifying sector, to get vaccinated. The move comes as many states are similarly loosening their age or other requirements for vaccinations. New York on Tuesday will make residents 50 and older eligible for vaccines, and Arizona on Wednesday will open up eligibility for residents 16 and older at state-run vaccination sites in three counties, state officials said Monday.
Two states, Alaska and Mississippi, have opened up vaccinations for everyone 16 and older. And at least 20 states have announced plans to do so in March or April, according to the New York Times.
In Contra Costa County, about 235,000 residents between 50 and 64 are now newly eligible, according to the county. The expansion comes as the county has begun receiving additional vaccine from the federal government for its federally qualified health centers.
“We look forward to the coming months when we can do away with vaccine eligibility, when anyone and everyone is eligible,” Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors Chair Diane Burgis said in a statement. “More and more doses of vaccine are coming into the county each week and we expect that trend to continue.”
Other Bay Area counties reached Monday said they are not yet expanding eligibility to those 50 and older, and are monitoring the state’s next steps for guidance. They would like to make vaccines available to more people, they said, but supply constraints make it difficult to predict exactly when that will happen.
“At this point, we are sticking with the state’s current eligibility groups,” said Marin County spokeswoman Laine Hendricks. “We estimate about 160,000 Marin residents are eligible under those definitions and still have a number of people to reach until we deem those groups as saturated. That being said, if the state were to signal a change and open that group, we would align with the state and begin vaccinating those individuals.”
Expanding eligibility does not necessary mean everyone who is eligible will be able to get their shots immediately because vaccine supply remains unpredictable. Last week, as the state opened up eligibility to people 16 and older with disabilities and underlying medical conditions, some were not able to book appointments right away.
Solano County last week expanded eligibility to people 50 and older. On Monday, county officials said they have seen a steep 60% drop in vaccine supply in the last two weeks, and must put off scheduling many first-dose appointments as mass vaccination clinics.
Vaccine supply coming to California, which is currently around 1.6 million to 1.7 million doses a week, is expected to double by the end of April if projections from the Biden administration and vaccine manufacturers hold true, said Blue Shield of California, which manages vaccine distribution for the state. That increase will mostly be driven by the expected influx of more Johnson & Johnson vaccine starting in early April, Blue Shield chief executive Paul Markovich said in an interview Friday.
The addition of the vaccine made by AstraZeneca, which on Monday released promising results from a large U.S. trial showing a 79% efficacy rate at preventing COVID-19 symptoms, could also bode well for speeding up vaccinations. AstraZeneca plans to apply for emergency use authorization in the United States “in the coming weeks” and has already been approved in dozens of other countries including much of Europe. Concerns over a small number of blood clots in people who were recently vaccinated temporary halted the administration of the vaccine in some countries earlier this month, but many have resumed the shots after European regulators deemed it safe.
It’s unlikely the AstraZeneca vaccine would gain FDA authorization before May, and by then the U.S. may not need it because there will be more Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines available.
As of Monday, nearly 10 million Californians, about 30% of the state’s 16-and-older population, are at least partially vaccinated. Of that group, 5.2 million, or 16%, are fully vaccinated, according to state data.
Staff writer Erin Allday contributed to this report.
Catherine Ho is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: cho@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @Cat_Ho