Vaccinations Aren't Going Well

It's getting minimal coverage in any media, legacy or independent, but the vaccination program doesn't seem to be living up to expectations. One sign is a letter we received this past week from the CEO of Kaiser Health Plan, a major provider, which is the one we use

At Kaiser Permanente, we care for more than 9.3 million Californians — and we’ve received only a fraction of the vaccine needed to vaccinate our health care workers and our members. At the time of this writing, we’ve received approximately 300,000 doses across the state and we’re acting quickly to vaccinate those who are eligible as soon as we receive the vaccine.

The shortage of vaccine doses and the uncertainty about the timing of vaccine availability worries everyone. The state of California must allocate the limited COVID-19 vaccine supply it receives from the federal government to 58 California counties and 9 multi-county entities, including Kaiser Permanente. We’re currently receiving a total of approximately 40,000 vaccine doses per week in California. We, like the state, are not permitted to purchase more vaccines directly from the manufacturer.

Kaiser's website says the current priority is their front line workers and those over 75 in care facilities. There's no indication of when this will be expanded at all, and the CEO says here it's out of his hands. It sounds to me as though he's had so many complaints he's had to write the letter.

LA County announced a week ago that it had expanded the priority group to those over 65 and designated certani large parking lots as vaccination sites. However, if there's a shortage of vaccines, I have no idea what it's like to try to visit one of those facilities -- and there must be a mountain of paperwork to fill out if you go.

Seems like LA media might want to make a trip to one of the parking lots to see how things are going, huh? So far, nothing.

An LA County health depoartment press release from Friday suggests things are going about the same as they are with Kaiser:

The week of January 18, the County received 168,575 doses, which is about 25,000 fewer doses than the previous week. And for this week, the County only received about 137,000 doses. Each week, there is an allocation from the federal government to the State that determines the number of vaccines allocated to L.A. County.

The message is the same -- it's out of our hands. You'd think Gov Newsom might be able to get on the phone, huh? Especially with the recall and all. Apparently not. And Pelosi and Harris are both from California, too.

I just don't know what to make of this story: the problem with media now is that nothing's completely trustworthy.

Members of the Biden administration somehow are unable to locate 20 million COVID-19 vaccine doses that went out recently, according to a report.

The White House Press Office has been strangely silent on the issue (and on other pressing issues) over the past several days, and the public is now finding out the most probable reason why that is the case.

According to Politico, they have also discovered that a vaccine stockpile has been mostly depleted due to the massive shipments having been sent out.

. . . “Responsibility for tracking them has been left up to states’ individual public health systems. The administration then only gets an update once the doses are actually administered and an official record is submitted, continued the source.

So the states and counties say it's out of our hands, while the federal government says it's out of our hands.

Meanwhile, although LA County allowed outdoor dining to reopen (in cold and rainy weather), it's forbidden TV screens in the dining areas. The reason is apparently to prevent people watching the Super Bowl while there. After all, they might start cheering and high-fivinig, and who knows how many deaths would reuult. There's a toll-free snitch line for you to report any of that.

But the vaccine is out of their hands.