Hoping to squash the surge of Covid-19 cases, California expanded access to vaccinations to anyone age 65 and older, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Wednesday.
The news comes a day after the Trump administration urged states to give the vaccine to older people at high risk and release vaccines held in reserve for second doses, a move President-elect Joe Biden called for earlier this month.
By lowering the age to 65, 6.6 million Californians are now be eligible, including those already eligible under prior standards. That adds about 4.2 million people to the group of people allowed to be vaccinated.
"There is no higher priority than efficiently and equitably distributing these vaccines as quickly as possible to those who face the gravest consequences,'' Newsom said in a statement. “To those not yet eligible for vaccines, your turn is coming. We are doing everything we can to bring more vaccine into the state.''
Previously, California was in the midst of an effort to vaccinate the 2.4 million health care workers and residents of long-term care facilities, though Newsom announced last week the state would aim to do 1 million vaccinations by the end of this week.
Those in Phase 1A — health care workers and long-term care residents — remain the highest priority to receive vaccines, and the governor cautioned that demand continues to far exceed supply.
The expansion of eligible candidates for vaccination comes as California has been criticized for its slow rollout of the vaccine. As of Jan. 11, around 800,000 people had received a dose out of roughly 2.5 million total doses the state has sent to local health care departments and health systems.
In order to boost distribution of the vaccine, the state has increased the number of health care professionals who can provide the vaccine to include dentists and pharmacy technicians overseen by licensed pharmacists.
The governor also announced a new system to let Californians know when they are eligible for a vaccine through a text or email notification that is expected to launch next week, but details were scant. In a "second phase" of the notification system, members of the public will be able to schedule vaccination appointments at public distribution sites like stadiums, convention centers or fairgrounds.
Still, health providers and public health departments are figuring exactly out how they will administer doses, as many of them had been following a tiered system based on state and federal guidelines and were preparing for the next phase, which was to include vaccinating seniors 75 and older.
Sutter Health, for instance, will have the capability later this week to start vaccinating patients who are 75 years or older. San Francisco-based One Medical, which operates a network of primary care clinics, is also working directly with the San Francisco Department of Public Health and other Bay Area county health departments to provide vaccine distribution.
