Officials Aim For 90 Percent Vaccination Rate In San Mateo County

SAN MATEO, CA — Health officials in San Mateo County hope to vaccinate 90 percent of the county's residents – and ensure each individual community has an 80 percent vaccination rate – by the end of the year.

Officials announced the goal during Tuesday's San Mateo County Board of Supervisors meeting, the San Francisco Examiner reported.

At the meeting, Louise Rogers, chief of San Mateo County Health, reiterated that vaccines remain the most effective tool in the fight against the "concerning rise in the number of COVID-19 cases."

"Each time a San Mateo County resident chooses to receive the vaccine, we are all safer," Rogers said at the meeting. "Thus, our major focus remains maximizing the reach of vaccines among our residents."

The county is within spitting distance of reaching its first goal, Palo Alto Online reported: As of Thursday, 89.2 percent of eligible residents ages 12 and older are vaccinated.

However, immunization rates are not distributed evenly: Only 76 percent of residents in the bottom quarter of California's Healthy Places Index - which measures health based on factors such as poverty – have been vaccinated, according to Palo Alto Online.

Vaccination rates are low in Broadmoor, East Palo Alto, North Fair Oaks, El Granada, Loma Mar and Moss Beach, the San Francisco Examiner reported, ranging from 51 to 76 percent.

To get those numbers up, the county will create convenient ways to get vaccinated and increase people's confidence in the shot, Dr. Anand Chabra, San Mateo County Health COVID-19 mass vaccination section chief, told the Examiner.