COVID-19: What you need to know to get vaccinated in Shasta County
Matt BrannonAbout 10 weeks into the COVID-19 vaccine process, demand for doses continues to exceed supply. As people in Shasta County and beyond try to get their vaccine, here’s what you need to know about how the system works.
The first phase of vaccinations through the state (Phase 1A) began with health care workers and residents of long-term care facilities. While those are still going on, Shasta County has started immunizing some in Phase 1B, which includes groups of people 65 and older, emergency services workers and those working in education and child care.
The next group will be workers in food, agriculture and veterinary health, according to the county.
Through the Veterans Administration, veterans 55 and older, as well as veterans who are essential workers under 55, are eligible to get vaccinated, according to the county's vaccine webpage. Through Indian Health Services, places like Redding Rancheria Tribal Health Center are vaccinating its patients over 18.
Where you go to get your vaccination will depend on what group you’re in. For example, Vibra Hospital of Northern California is reaching out to educators while Safeway is taking appointments to vaccinate all eligible populations, according to the county's website.
I’m not eligible; how do I know when I will be?
County health officials say the first step is visiting their website and hitting the big blue oval that says "Tell me when it's my turn." It won't make an appointment for you, but it will prompt you to take a survey to figure out when you would be eligible to get the vaccine. That way, health officials can notify you when the time comes.
I’m eligible; how do I sign up to get vaccinated?
The "Tell me when it's my turn" button is a good starting point for eligible people as well. Shasta County Public Health uses a list of names generated by the tool to create vaccination schedules for clinics held by public health officials and Shasta Community Health Center, according to Kerri Schuette, spokeswoman for Shasta County Public Health.
More: Here is where to get the COVID-19 vaccine in Shasta County
Other providers do their own scheduling, Schuette said. The county has a list of 15 providers on its website at this link, with corresponding links to make an appointment at certain locations. Places like CVS and Safeway are taking all eligible populations, while others like Pit River Health Services only take signups from existing patients and staff, according to the county's website.
People who have already gotten one shot can find a schedule of second-shot clinics at the county’s website here.
Where do vaccines in Shasta County come from?
There are three main ways vaccines get allocated for residents in Shasta County: through the state, through the Department of Veterans Affairs and through Indian Health Services.
The latter two serve more specific populations, and as a result, the bulk of Shasta County's vaccine gets allocated through the state government. Once the state has its allocation for a given period, some doses are skimmed off the top and used to target residents and staff in long-term care facilities like nursing homes and assisted-living facilities.
After setting aside doses for those facilities, the rest of the state's doses still need to make their way into local communities. To accomplish this, the state ships doses to two kinds of entities: "local health jurisdictions," which are mainly county health departments, and one of seven "multi-county entities" like Dignity Health.
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Dignity Health had initially been using its supply specifically to vaccinate health care workers and Dignity patients. But Schuette said lately the organization has teamed up with public health for mass vaccination clinics.
As for the county's public health supply, some of it gets parsed out to one of about 15 providers in the area, many of which schedule their own appointments, and some is used for mass vaccination clinics. Schuette said those providers have a weekly virtual meeting to coordinate.
Doses produced:
- Allocated for Indian Health Services
- Allocated for Veterans Administration
- Allocated for states (includes long-term care facilities, local health jurisdictions and multi-county entities)
How does Shasta County order its vaccines?
Health officials have said the largest share of vaccines coming into Shasta County come through the "local health jurisdiction" allocations from the state. The county’s process for getting ahold of those doses involves coordination at multiple levels.
By the close of business on Mondays, every provider authorized to administer vaccines submits a request to Shasta County health officials, asking for the amount of doses they think they’ll be able to give that week.
A county health coordinator reviews those requests and sends a bulk request to the state. Schuette said vaccines arrive a week after a request is submitted. She said second-dose allocations typically arrive in the county on Sundays and first-dose allocations on Tuesday evenings. (The past three weeks, however, she said first-dose allocations from the state have been arriving late Wednesday.)
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Because providers need to have adequate storage equipment to be registered with the state, Schuette said doses don't have to be administered the same day or next day.
"This allows providers to plan vaccine clinics around the total vaccine received and to prevent vaccine waste," she said.
Every week, Shasta County health officials request the maximum amount of vaccine from the California Department of Public Health, but the amount it actually gets varies.
Schuette said the supply stream remains unpredictable.
“We don’t know until this week what we’ll be receiving next week,” Schuette said. “Sometimes we are expecting thousands and we get hundreds instead.”
How much progress has Shasta County made?
As of Wednesday, Schuette said the county has administered 31,035 doses — 19,520 first and 11,515 second — and that the number could be slightly higher due to delayed data entry.
Comparing those numbers to the state and country data shows Shasta County is keeping pace on the percentage of its population that has received a second dose. But only about 10.8% of county residents have received a first shot, lower than California’s 14.5% figure, according to CDC.
Meanwhile, state data shows more vaccines have been administered in some nearby counties. Butte County has administered more than twice as many shots — disproportionate to the population gap of about 219,000 residents compared to about 180,000 in Shasta, according to the California Department of Public Health.
That’s because, according to county officials, the state takes the number of prioritized populations into account when allocating vaccines. So Butte County got more to start because it has more health care workers, Shasta County Health Officer Dr. Karen Ramstrom said, adding the discrepancy could stabilize over time as factors like age become more of a consideration for state officials allocating vaccines.
What are providers saying?
Dean Germano, CEO of Shasta Community Health Center, said his organization gets 500 doses a week that can be stored onsite. They administer 100 doses a day, Monday through Friday.
Germano said public health staff comes up with a list of names and screens them at the facility before they get a shot. Those are mostly people over 75 and targeted groups like health care workers and teachers. Germano said Shasta County Public Health maintains the vaccine schedule and his organization provides the nursing workforce.
But Germano said 100 shots a day is not enough “to make a dent in our own practice,” which he estimates to be about 25,000 adults eligible for the vaccine, as well as patients experiencing homelessness.
For subscribers: A running list of Shasta County's COVID-19 deaths
He said his organization could handle 500 vaccinations a day, which could require eventually starting its own mass vaccination events. Even at that rate, he estimated it could take three to four months to get to herd/community immunity.
Germano is also wary that a lack of interest in getting vaccinated could hinder the community’s chances of a full recovery. A Facebook analysis of 31 California counties by Carnegie Melon University showed Shasta County residents were the least likely of the group to want the shots, with about 67% saying they'd take it.
“If we really want to get our lives back to normal,” Germano said, “we need to do better than what the data currently shows in terms of those willing to get vaccinated.”
Matt Brannon covers politics, the criminal justice system and breaking news for the Record Searchlight. Follow him on Twitter @MattBrannon_RS. Support local coverage and keep up with the North State for as little as $1 a month. Subscribe today.