Santa Clara County is on track to receive 39,300 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine created by Moderna later in December, but whether or not that happens depends upon whether or not the U.S. government grants an Emergency Use Authorization for the drug.
In the meantime, the county is also awaiting 17,550 doses of Pfizer’s COVID vaccine. Healthcare workers in clinics, doctor’s offices, and nursing homes will be first in line for the shots, along with nursing home residents. Other residents will be positioned to receive their doses in the weeks and months to come.
Per the county’s recently drafted vaccine plan, the vaccine rollout will aim to be swift, fair, and efficient amid complex storage requirements often calling for extremely low temperatures.
Since the start of the pandemic in March, 43,001 people have been diagnosed with COVID-19 in Santa Clara County, and 515 of those people have died. Countywide, hospitals’ ICU capacity is severely stretched, with only 10% of all ICU beds available, or 31 beds in total. Twenty-eight percent of all occupied ICU beds are occupied by COVID-19 patients.
New lockdown conditions mandate staying at home for all nonessential activities, and experts continue to strongly advise social distancing, mask-wearing, and hand-washing, while also advising people not to travel.
