Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine arrives in Santa Cruz County
SANTA CRUZ, Calif. (KION) - Some relief has arrived for many people on the Central Coast who have been waiting for a coronavirus vaccine.
According to Santa Cruz County, the Pfizer-BioNTech Vaccine for Covid-19 has arrived.
In a tweet, Santa Cruz County says in part: "Vaccine administration to front-line health care workers could begin as early as tomorrow."
“Staff has been working so hard in difficult conditions,” Dominican Hospital Disaster Preparedness Coordinator Paul Angelo said. "We’re just happy to be able to give them a little hope that everything will start to get better soon."
Santa Cruz County received 1,950 doses, according to county Spokesperson Jason Hoppin.
About 2/3 of the vaccines given to the county will be distributed to Dominican Hospital and the remaining 1/3 to Watsonville Community Hospital.
Angelo said they created an algorithm to determine who will get the first doses at Dominican Hospital “based on their willingness to receive the vaccine and where they’re working and how much contact they’re actually having with COVID patients."
"Then we also look into factors such as their age and their ethnicity that would make them more at risk to contracting COVID,” Angelo said.
Hospitals will be spreading out the vaccine to staff members on different shifts and will stagger the doses in case any workers experience side effects, like fever.
But even with a vaccine, heath officials say its important to continue to follow safety guidelines.
“Now that there is some hope, this is not the time to let our guard down,” Santa Cruz Deputy Health Officer Dr. David Ghilarducci said.
“We would like to reinforce the fact that people don’t have those close gatherings around Christmas so that we don’t see another surge following that holiday,” Angelo said.
This comes at a time when hospitals are dealing with a surge in cases after the Thanksgiving holiday and dwindling ICU bed capacities.
Dr. David Ghilarducci said hospital ICUs in Santa Cruz County reached 100% capacity Tuesday.
“Capacity is not available and this is something that we have been afraid of and planning for months so its finally come to pass,” Ghilarducci said.
The Bay Area region, which includes Santa Cruz and Monterey counties, has 15.8 percent of its ICU beds available, leaning close to the 15 percent capacity threshold.
The San Joaquin Valley region, which includes San Benito County, is at 1.6 percent. A Stay at Home Order was already triggered there.
Monterey County issued their own Stay at Home Order, leaving Santa Cruz County as the only Central Coast county yet to be under a more restrictive order.
But Dr. Ghilarducci said a stay at home order is inevitable, whether the county implements it or they're forced to by state guidelines.
“We talk about it everyday and weigh the benefits and the risks of that. It’s a complicated decision. I think our hand will be played anyway inevitably in the next day or so based on what’s happening in the region,” Dr. Ghilarducci said.
If the region dips below, Santa Cruz County would be thrust into a stay at home order.
The order comes with more restrictions for businesses as set by the state.
Dr. Ghilarducci says the county has been communicating with businesses to expect that the order will happen shortly and prepare accordingly.
