California health officials have announced that people age 65 and older can now get the vaccine against the COVID-19 virus.
Gov Gavin Newsom's announcement Wednesday puts seniors in line before emergency workers, teachers, childcare providers and food and agriculture workers. The announcement comes as counties say they already don’t have enough doses to go around.
Health care workers and those in nursing homes and other congregate living facilities can still be vaccinated, but state officials are expanding to those 65 and up because they are at the greatest risk of being hospitalized and dying. California has seen virus cases and hospitalizations explode since Thanksgiving, though in recent days the numbers have flattened.
The decision to make those 65 and over eligible to get vaccinated comes following a new advisory from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Most states including California are working to vaccinate all eligible heart care workers first, but the slow pace of administering the shots has led to calls to authorize more people to receive doses.
Gov.Newsom said Monday that only about one-third of the nearly 2.5 million vaccine doses it has received so far had been administered. In San Diego County there are an estimated 500,000 people in Phase 1A of the priority list, which includes healthcare workers and residents of long-term care facilities. The first Super Vaccination site for health care workers opened Monday near Petco Park.
SEE DETAILS OF COUNTY VACCINATION SCHEDULE.
SEE LATEST CORONAVIRUS NUMBERS IN SAN DIEGO COUNTY.
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