Santa Clara County Officials Continue To Lament Vaccine Supply

SANTA CLARA COUNTY, CA — Santa Clara County officials continue to be frustrated by a lack of COVID-19 vaccine supply from the state, which they say has prevented the county from resuming widespread scheduling of first doses.

The county recently opened up several smaller vaccination sites in East San Jose as well as a larger center at Eastridge Mall. But it has only been able to offer “limited first doses” at those locations, according to a news release.

Several thousand Kaiser patients who had scheduled vaccine appointments up through March 28 with the county had their slots transferred to Kaiser because of a lack of assurance of enough supply from the state.

As of Thursday, the county had fully vaccinated more than 236,600 residents, accounting for nearly 15 percent of the eligible population over the age of 16.

“The lack of sufficient supply from the State has been frustrating for everyone, particularly those who are eligible for the vaccine, and want to be vaccinated, but have been unable to sign up,” said Dr. Marty Fenstersheib, the county’s testing and vaccine officer, in a news release on Thursday. “We have had to use almost all of the vaccine we receive for second doses, and have continued to provide access for our hardest hit communities to the greatest extent possible given ongoing shortages.”

County officials expect vaccine supply to increase significantly across the state in a few weeks, especially as the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine is more widely distributed.

“All we need to dramatically expand access to vaccinations is more vaccine, and we are ready and waiting for it,” said County Executive Jeff Smith. “We want to see the significant capacity we have built in full use, and we look forward to opening up first dose appointment capacity more broadly as soon as vaccine supply allows.”