Santa Cruz County health officials prepare for vaccine eligibility expansion, reduced restrictions
SANTA CRUZ COUNTY, Calif. (KION) Santa Cruz County health officials held a news conference Thursday to share an update about the state of the COVID-19 pandemic in the county and discuss the new timeline for vaccine eligibility.
Earlier in the day, the Governor's office shared the news that on April 1, Californians aged 50 and older will be eligible for a COVID-19 vaccine, and everyone aged 16 and older will be eligible by April 15.
Health officer Dr. Gail Newell said Santa Cruz County was already preparing to expand access to people aged 50 and older in early April, so she said they seem to be on track with the state's timeline.
The expanded access will mean many more people trying to get vaccine appointments, so Newell is encouraging anybody currently eligible to get a vaccine now. Later on, they may need to compete with a larger population for vaccine appointments.
According to Dr. David Ghilarducci, about 128,000 vaccine doses had been administered in Santa Cruz County as of last weekend, and they hope that everyone who wants a vaccine will be vaccinated by mid-summer. He said vaccine allocations are expected to double by mid-April and triple by June.
This comes as Santa Cruz County also prepares to move to the orange tier of the state's Blueprint for a Safer Economy. The move would reduce restrictions for businesses, and Newell said the move will almost certainly happen on Tuesday.
Even though restrictions are expected to be reduced, Newell warned that community members should not let their guard down yet, especially around spring break. Although case and positivity rates in the county have stayed about the same, there has been a small increase.
The county also announced earlier in the week that two cases of a variant first identified in the U.K. have been reported in the area, one in January and one in February. Both patients have recovered, but the cases were unrelated, so Newell said residents should assume that the variant is circulating in the community. The three vaccines that received FDA emergency use authorization in the U.S. have been shown to remain effective against the variants, but the variants are still more easily transmitted.
