Dentists can now give COVID vaccines in California

An emergency waiver issued by Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday allows California dentists to help administer coronavirus vaccines in the state.

“All hands on deck — the more we can administer this vaccine, the better,” said Dr. Judee Tippett-Whyte, president of the California Dental Association, KFSN reported.

Newsom also hopes to enlist pharmacy technicians and others to help administer the vaccines, according to the station.

California has received 1.2 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines, and about half have been distributed to be administered to health workers and others in high-risk categories, KFSN reported.

Some of the state’s 36,000 dentists say they could have been brought in sooner, KRON reported.

“I think this is something that should’ve been done a long time ago,” said Dr. Thomas Arnold of Berkeley, according to the station.

“As dentists, I think we are fully qualified to administer these vaccination shots,” said Dr. Daniel Chen, KRON reported. “We already give injections in hard to reach places in the mouth, so giving a shot in the arm shouldn’t be a big deal.”

The American Dental Association says that about 9% of Americans see their dentist, but not their physician, annually, which is enough to deem them “an essential health care service,” according to a Nov. 20 letter sent to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, McClatchy News previously reported.

During the 2009 H1N1 (swine flu) pandemic, dentists in certain states were given permission to administer vaccines to reduce the load on other health care providers, McClatchy News reported.

This story was originally published January 6, 2021 at 10:50 AM with the headline "Dentists can now give COVID vaccines in California."