Bay Area officials are worried about supply constraints in a hurry to distribute the vaccine

California is opening a new site for vaccination and increasing the number of injections per day in the worst pandemic surge. ..

Local officials said on Friday that the vaccine deployment was cramped by a flood of demand from residents aged 65 and over who were considered eligible by the state for limited supply and eligibility for this week’s vaccination. Said, and some counties also cite the need for personnel, facilities and time to scale up operations. California, which received 1.2 million of the approximately 3 million vaccines received so far, was one of the slowest deployments in any state.

“We need to increase the pace, distribution and administration of these vaccines,” Governor Gavin Newsom said when opening a mass vaccination site at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles on Friday. “In reality, these vaccines need to be taken out of the freezer and placed in people’s arms.”

The need for vaccination became urgent on Friday. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned that a rapidly spreading viral variant across the UK could account for half of the cases in the United States by March. Mutations are reportedly not lethal to the virus, but the high infection rate leads to more cases and deaths overall compared to current variants.

The news was announced when the pandemic’s global death toll exceeded 2 million on Friday. Throughout California, the percentage of tests that return positive is declining, as are new cases and hospitalizations, according to Newsam. In the Bay Area, ICU capacity remains low, but the post-holiday surge in deaths seems to have peaked.

President-elect Joe Biden used Defense Production Act on Friday to reach 100 million Americans in the first 100 days as local and state governments struggle to cope with the surge and vaccinate the vulnerable. Announced to help achieve his goal of vaccination of people.

James Williams, a Santa Clara County lawyer, said Friday that recent political turmoil with the diplomatic government has exacerbated the already frustrating vaccine deployment. On Friday, The Washington Post reported The federal stockpile of the promised vaccine was actually empty. Newsom said he didn’t expect Glitch to undermine the ability of Californians to take a second shot in a two-shot regimen, but said it was based on a federal guarantee, “We are now. We are aware of the importance of verification. That information. “

“We are not vaccinated,” Kaiser Permanente’s president of the Northern California region, Carrie Owen Priets, said in a press conference with San Francisco officials, as soon as they were received. The medical system works to put them in the hands of people. But, “Without the vaccine we give, we have no vaccine to give. It affects us.”

San Francisco Plan to open three mass vaccination sites The mayor of London Breed and Dr. Grant Corfax, director of health, have announced a goal of giving at least 10,000 vaccines a day, but initially the city needs a good supply.

“Vaccine doses remain limited. We are ready for higher doses, we need higher doses, we are looking for higher doses “I will,” said Bleed. “We are not vaccinated. They are all moving out of the door.”

In Alameda County, authorities Convert the Auckland Coliseum to high-dose coronavirus vaccination Site in February. The Colosseum was formerly used as a coronavirus testing facility, polling place, and influenza vaccine distribution site.

In Contra Costa County, private and public health systems have administered about 36,000 of the approximately 72,000 doses so far, with an additional 33,000 doses underway, officials said at a press conference on Friday. Dr. Ori Tzvieli, head of county operations for COVID-19, said scaling up vaccine surgery is much more complicated than testing.

The county has opened 20 vaccination sites and plans to add more to Antioch and Richmond next week. By the end of next week, the county and its partners will offer 3,600 shots per day, up to 5,800 shots per day, according to Tsubieri.

“We are the beginning of the largest public health vaccination campaign in history,” county supervisor Diane Barges said on Friday at Pleasant Hill’s vaccination site. “We ask everyone patiently. It’s your turn. We recommend that you get vaccinated when it’s your turn. Vaccines are our usual return ticket.”

The county may partner with paramedics to administer the vaccine and is considering opening a mass vaccination site, but there is still not enough dose, Tubieri said.

Limited supply alone is not enough to meet current demand, as California began the process of vaccination of residents over the age of 65 on Wednesday. Overwhelming interest in booking on Thursday caused the Sutter Health website to crash, with some being put on hold at Kaiser Permanente for hours. The Contra Costa County Health Services website receives about 1,000 booking requests per hour, said health director Annaros.

On Thursday, Kaiser received four times the normal volume of calls to just one call center, Kaiser’s Prietz said Friday. The system was still reporting “very high” call volumes and Friday wait times, a spokeswoman said. By the end of next week, Kaiser will have access to an online self-service tool that will allow qualified individuals to schedule appointments when vaccine supplies are available.

A Satter spokeswoman said the website was restored on Friday, but the wait will still be long. The healthcare system prioritizes giving shots to healthcare professionals and people over the age of 75.

Contra Costa County Health Services also prioritizes people over the age of 75, but still accepts information and schedules reservations later for people over the age of 65, Tzvieli said. The county wants to vaccinate all of the target age group by the end of February.

In Marin County, more than one-third of the population, including people over the age of 65, is currently in the vaccination eligibility stage. Dr. Matt Willis, a county public health officer, said demand would exceed supply for weeks and put up with healthy older people.

In Sonoma County, the county’s interim health officer, Dr. Sundari Mase, said at a press conference on Friday that “deployment will depend on the supply of vaccines.” She expects teachers to be vaccinated in the first week of February and says the county will work with the HR department, police and EMS to vaccinate other important workers on time. I did. “I don’t think anyone will hit the current plan if the vaccine supply continues,” she said.

On Thursday, a local hospital was caring for 2,106 coronavirus patients. This is the lowest number in 10 days. It’s a bright place, but Bay Area leaders said they were still very worried about the availability of current intensive care.

“It’s not time to relax,” Santa Clara County supervisor Otto Lee said at a press conference on Friday. Look around for a few more months. “

Chronicle staff writers Trisha Thadani, Erin Allday, Catherine Ho, Aidin Vaziri and The Associated Press contributed to the report.

Mallory Menchi is a staff writer for the San Francisco Chronicle. Email: [email protected] twitter: @mallorymoench