Greater Sacramento-Area Counties Predict Brighter Future As New Vaccine Initiative Rolls Out
SACRAMENTO (CBS13) – California's updated vaccine allocation initiative has Greater Sacramento area counties predicting the light at the end of the tunnel is closer than ever.
California's giving 40% of vaccine doses to lower-income communities, which could help counties move forward in tiers.
"Just a couple hours ago. Just got the sticker. Right there! It feels good," said Valerie Welk, who received the vaccine.
More than 9 million others in California are vaccinated.
"It's an amazing fact that we have a vaccine that is so safe and so effective," said USC Professor of Preventative Medicine Jeffrey Klausner.
Klausner said the light at the end of the tunnel is near.
"We've seen a tremendous uptick of vaccinations," Klausner said.
California's new distribution initiative allocates 40% of the vaccine supply to at-risk communities. It's a practice Yolo County says is already in place.
"When we first started getting vaccines we wanted to make sure there was an equitable process," said Yolo County spokesperson Jenny Tan
Tan said that put them ahead of the game. Yolo County's currently in the red tier, while Sacramento, San Joaquin, Placer and Nevada counties are still purple.
"Hopefully we'll get to orange mid-March," Tan said.
Tier changes to red were also predicted for each of the other counties, except one. Nevada County said they see no immediate path forward.
"Nevada County is still unfortunately in the purple tier. I'm not super optimistic. We added 25 cases to our dashboard today, which is significant for a county of our size," said Ryan Gruver, the director of Nevada County Health and Human Services.
Nevada County will rely on the state's new plan to help get them back on track.
"I'm hopeful as vaccine ramps up in our state and our vulnerable communities are vaccinated we can see that reflected in the way the state approaches restrictions," Gruver said.
Despite the major differences in tiers now, experts say the coronavirus may not have a future in California.
"I'm quite hopeful by this spring, early summer we're going to see continued decline and increasingly we are going to get people back to work and back to school," Klausner said.