San Diego County Receives A Boost Of 100,000 COVID-19 Vaccines

San Diego CA

22 April, 2021

2:35 PM

Description

By Elizabeth Ireland, Times of San Diego April 22, 2021 San Diego County received nearly 100,000 more vaccines this week than it did the week prior, public health officials announced Wednesday. This uptick in the vaccine supply is good news for the county, where Supervisor Nathan Fletcher said there hasn't yet been any waning in interest to receive a shot. The 294,440 vaccine doses the county received last week is the most so far, with 2,583,595 total vaccines received since they were first approved by the FDA. Fletcher said he was not yet aware of how many doses San Diego County is scheduled to receive next week, nor had the county heard any news about the 11,000 Johnson & Johnson doses it was keeping refrigerated. The federal government put a pause on administration of the J&J vaccine following a few rare blood clots, resulting in the deaths of half a dozen women. A total of 203 fully vaccinated San Diegan residents have tested positive for the SARS CoV-2 virus which causes COVID-19, according to Dr. Eric McDonald, medical director of the county Health and Human Services Agency's Epidemiology and Immunization Services Branch. This represents a rate of .027% of all fully vaccinated county residents — a little more than three times higher than the federally reported rate of .008%. Of these, he said, 57% had no symptoms whatsoever and were tested for another reason. None of the fully vaccinated people have been hospitalized or have died. "We expected to see higher rates locally," McDonald said, before emphasizing how effective the vaccines are if only a quarter of 1% of those fully vaccinated have been infected. More than 2.5 million COVID-19 vaccine doses have been delivered to San Diego County, and 1,316,462 county residents — or around 65% of the county's goal of 75% of its eligible population — have received at least one dose. The state's goal is to vaccinate 75% of people 16 and older to achieve so-called herd immunity — equating to around 2.02 million San Diego County residents. On Wednesday, the county reported that more than 846,000 people in San Diego County — or around 42% of that goal — are fully vaccinated. The numbers include both county residents and those who only work in the region. — City News Service contributed to this article Times of San Diego is an independent online news site covering the San Diego metropolitan area. Our journalists report on politics, crime, business, sports, education, arts, the military and everyday life in San Diego. No subscription is required, and you can sign up for a free daily newsletter with a summary of the latest news.