New vaccine efforts in San Mateo County

Nearly 90% of eligible county residents ages 12 and older have received at least one COVID-19 dose. But a recent summer surge of cases spurred by the most contagious delta variant has officials focusing their sights on under-vaccinated communities.

With about 74,000 eligible residents still unvaccinated, Chabra said county health’s new goal is to achieve at least an 80% vaccination rate among each community within the county by the end of the year. Just more than 76% of residents ages 10 and older in the lowest quartile of its Health Places Index Census Tracts have received at least one dose, Chabra said. The tracts are used to identify the most underserved areas in the county which have largely been the hardest hit during the pandemic.

“As we think about equity broadly speaking for the county we want to ensure that every community whether it be a geographic community, racial and ethnic group, age group, can reach at least 80% coverage before we focus more on the countywide reach,” Chabra said.

Communities still under the county’s 80% goal include Broadmoor, East Palo Alto, North Fair Oaks, El Granada, Loma Mar and Moss Beach, ranging from 51% to 75.8% vaccinated, Chabra said.

Trailing racial and ethnic groups include Black, Latino, multiracial and Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander populations with vaccination rates between 44% to just more than 60%.

By age, the lowest vaccination rates are among those in the 12 to 15 age group and the 85 and older age group with vaccination rates ranging from 63.8% to 67.5% vaccinated.

To target these communities, officials intend to continue their current approach by offering “radically convenient,” vaccine options, Chabra said. The effort includes supporting standing clinics and vaccinating partners while supplying pop-up clinics. Officials aim to hold at least 14 clinics a week from August to at least October.

Building trust in the three vaccines currently on the market developed by Pfizer Inc., Moderna and Johnson & Johnson have also remained a priority, he said. The county aims to reach unvaccinated residents by investing in trusted community-based organizations tasked with communicating vaccine messaging in partnership with the county’s vaccine task force. Officials are also considering investing in a direct mailing system to direct information to high-risk communities, Chabra said.

Progress will be monitored by keeping track of the number of county-sponsored events held, the amount of outreach conducted by community partners and through direct mail items sent out, he said. Supervisor Warren Slocum shared interests in how the county will adjust if strong progress is not made. Chabra said officials will review their efforts before the end of the year.

Summer surge

The increased focus on vaccinations among underserved communities follows a substantial uptick in COVID-19 cases across the region. Chief of Health Louise Rogers told supervisors the county is currently experiencing an average of 89 new cases a day, nearly double what was reported two weeks ago. And more than 100 cases were reported on eight separate days in July, she said.

In San Mateo County, breakthrough cases have been rare with only 158 cases among vaccinated people reported out of the 17,148 infections from December to mid-July, Chabra told supervisors.

Vaccinated residents are also far more protected against serious illness and hospitalizations after contracting the virus, health officials said during the meeting. Rogers noted that a majority of patients receiving care for COVID-related illnesses in the county, ranging between 20 to 40 patients on any given day, are unvaccinated.

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

Immediate actions

Still, recent data also show vaccinated people are more likely to spread the new delta variant, now the predominant strain in the state, than other versions of the virus.

The discovery paired with the summer surge motivated regional health officers to issue a mask mandate for all Bay Area residents regardless of vaccination status when indoors with people not from the same household.

Rogers noted the mandate “is not entirely new” but instead “amplifies” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and California Department of Public Health masking recommendations. She also highlighted similar steps previously taken by the county in issuing a masking requirement for all people entering its own facilities.

The county will also be collecting vaccine status information from employees in the health care and congregate care fields as required by a state vaccine order. The order also requires the county to mandate routine testing for those who are not vaccinated. Rogers said the county intends to be fully aligned with the order by Aug. 23. On Monday, regional health officials said they are not considering additional restrictions at this time and will consider removing the mask mandate when COVID-19 hospitalization rates fall to mid-June figures, which were single digits in San Mateo County.

Also alarmed by the spread of the delta variant, supervisors expressed concern for reconvening in-person meetings which were slated to begin in September. Instead, they agreed to monitor the trends and to potentially push back in-person meetings until the start of the new year.

“Your safety and the safety of others are the number one priority,” board President David Canepa said. “We’ll look at that and make sure we move appropriately.”

sierra@smdailyjournal.com

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