Coronavirus update: Push for vaccine equity showing incremental improvement for some
Equity in COVID-19 vaccine distribution continues to be an issue across the nation, the state and counties in the San Joaquin Valley, where on Thursday a coalition of advocacy groups urged Gov. Gavin Newsom to prioritize vaccines for agricultural workers.
State public health officials also have increased shipments of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines to several valley counties including Tulare County, which this week more than doubled its allotment, receiving more than 10,000 doses, up from about 4,800.
Monterey County, Imperial County, Kings County, Merced County and Kern County also saw increases of more than 75%, according to data from the California Department of Public Health.
Fresno County received 16,700 vaccine doses, up from 10,800 and an increase of 54.6%. Madera County saw an increase of 52.8% and Stanislaus County an increase of 33.5%.
So far, there have only been incremental gains by some races or ethnicities in the number of vaccinations received. The percentage of people with at least one dose of vaccine administered in California on Thursday, and on Feb. 17 …
American Indian/Alaska Native: 0.3%, no change
Asian American: 12.7%, down from 13%
Black: 3%, UP from 2.9%
Latino: 17%, UP from 16%
Multi-race: 14%, UP from 13.9%
Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander: 0.4%, no change
White: 32.9%, UP from 32.7%
Other: 11.1%, down from 12.1%
Unknown: 8.7%, no change
The percentage of people with at least one dose of vaccine administered by race and ethnicity in Fresno County on Thursday, and on Feb. 17 …
American Indian/Alaskan Native: 0.5%, UP from 0.4%
Asian American: 7.8%, down from 8%
Black: 2.2%, UP from 1.9%
Latino: 25.4%, UP from 24.4%
Multi-race: 12.9%, UP from 12.7%
Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander: 0.2%, no change
White: 32.8%, UP from 31.5%
Other: 9.5%, down from 11%
Unknown: 8.7%, down from 9.9%
In a letter sent to Newsom on Thursday organizations including the California Farmworker Foundation, the Fresno County Farm Bureau and California Fresh Fruit Association said vaccines for farm workers was a matter of “moral imperative and economic urgency.”
Case updates from the central San Joaquin Valley
Fresno County public health officials reported just 53 new confirmed COVID-19 cases on Thursday, the fewest in a single day since Oct. 9. The total in the county is 94,794.
There were 10 additional coronavirus-related deaths. That total now 1,422.
But the number of new cases is more significant, considering there were more than 2,300 tests conducted. On Wednesday, The single-day test positivity rate was just 2.3% in a county that, while numbers continue to fall, still is tracking higher than many other counties in the state.
The test positivity rate on Wednesday was 8.2%, on 1,921 tests. Elsewhere in the central San Joaquin Valley, county public health officials had the following updates on the number of cases and deaths:
Kings County
- 35 new cases; 21,951 total
- 0 new deaths; 218 total
Madera County
- 37 new cases; 15,339 total
- 0 new deaths; 209 total
Mariposa County
- 0 new cases; 394 total
- 0 new deaths; 7 total
Merced County
- 41 new cases; 28,915 total
- 1 new death; 395 total
Tulare County
- 54 new cases; 47,784 total
- 7 new deaths; 746 total
In California there were 4,965 new cases reported by the California Department of Public Health on Thursday for a total of 3,460,326. There were 1,114 new deaths, more than double the 7-day and 14-day averages of 438 and 395.
Worldwide there are now more than 2.5 million coronavirus-related deaths, according to the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.
The CSSE is reporting 2,507,803 deaths including 508,307 in the United States, more than double any other country. Brazil is second with 251,498 COVID-19 deaths.
J&J vaccine emergency use request to be reviewed
The single-shot Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine will be evaluated on Friday by the Food and Drug Administration’s Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee, which will review a request for emergency use authorization.
The FDA staff earlier this week said it had determined clinical trial results and safety data of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine were “consistent with the recommendations set forth in FDA’s guidance Emergency Use Authorization for Vaccines to Prevent COVID-19.”
The Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines both received emergency use authorizations one day after they were backed by the committee of outside medical advisors on the committee.
The FDA on Thursday said undiluted and frozen vials of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine can be transported and stored at conventional temperatures commonly found in pharmaceutical freezers for a period of up to two weeks, which should make it easier to distribute and administer the vaccine.
The shot, one of two approved for emergency use, typically is transported and stored in an ultra-low temperature freezer between minus-112 degrees to minus-76 degrees.
“Pfizer submitted data to the FDA to support this alternative temperature for transportation and storage,” said Peter Marks, M.D., Ph.D., director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research.
“This alternative temperature for transportation and storage of the undiluted vials is significant and allows the vials to be transported and stored under more flexible conditions. The alternative temperature for transportation and storage will help ease the burden of procuring ultra-low cold storage equipment for vaccination sites and should help to get vaccine to more sites.”