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The polar vortex that gripped much of the U.S. last week stalled delivery of more than 1,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses to Del Norte County.

Though it has enough shots on hand to hold a mass vaccination clinic this week, the Public Health Branch will deliver nearly no new doses to local medical offices for roughly the next two weeks, Public Health Officer Dr. Warren Rehwaldt told county supervisors Tuesday.

“We are still the sole source for vaccine for the medical offices in our community and our county that are vaccinating their patients,” he said. “It’s kind of a tight moment. If we get vaccines this week, everything’s good and we’re back in business. Now we’re being cautious trying to keep our inventory from drying up.”

In addition to weather-related delays in vaccine delivery to Del Norte, Rehwaldt said though the Public Health Branch has submitted the paperwork necessary to certify the community’s deep freezers — needed to store the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine — it has yet to hear from the state.

Del Norte County has delivered an average of about 350 doses a week since both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines have been available, Rehwaldt said. Most of those doses are the Moderna vaccine.

Del Norte’s allocation of Pfizer is nearly depleted with about 50 doses left in the freezer in Humboldt County, he said.

“We’d like to know, to make sure we’re not missing a step to get ourselves approved,” Rehwaldt said. “We’d like to get our second freezer at the Del Norte Community Health Center approved as well. Then we could have two freezers capable and approved of holding Pfizer vaccines.”

Ten new COVID-19 cases were reported to the Public Health Branch on Wednesday, bringing Del Norte’s total active case count to 40, according to the COVID-19 Information Hub. One person is in the hospital currently.

There have been 986 total COVID-19 cases in Del Norte County since the pandemic began, 25 hospitalizations and five deaths, according to the Public Health Branch.

No new incarcerated cases were identified on Wednesday. Since the pandemic began, 199 incarcerated individuals tested positive for COVID-19.

Out of roughly 25,500 non-incarcerated residents, nearly 7 percent of Del Norte County has been vaccinated against COVID-19, only about 1,700 people, Rehwaldt wrote in a letter to the community Tuesday.

The Public Health Branch had hoped to have reached 10-15 percent of the population by this point. Though it fell short of that goal, Rehwaldt said the number of doses administered so far is a “good start.”

“We have kept a list from the beginning of the program of persons to be called at a moment’s notice to get added to a pool of vaccines. But sometimes the list is completely tapped out and we have called whoever came to mind — sometimes persons who literally made up their minds that moment,” he said, adding that COVID-19 vaccine doses can only last six hours at room temperature. “Time is a factor with this vaccine, and we have given shots within minutes of the expiration hour.”

On Tuesday, Rehwaldt and county supervisors expressed skepticism regarding state efforts to expedite vaccine delivery. This includes California’s My Turn program, which allows people to enroll to receive the COVID-19 shot as well as the state tasking Blue Shield of California to be the third-party administrator for vaccine rollout.

In the case of My Turn, small counties voiced concerns about residents’ ability to sign up for the program in any county and go to a neighboring county to obtain the vaccine, Rehwaldt said. This, he said, could swamp Del Norte County.

“We would be unlikely to get even half of our vaccination allocation into the arms of Del Norte residents if that opens up full bore,” he said. “Until that happens, we are hesitant about participating. We are told, however, we don’t have the option of opting out. The expectation is the entire state will be part of this program.”

Rehwaldt said he hoped state health officials would allow Del Norte County to have vaccination clinics for residents only. He argued that the My Turn program has the potential to make vaccine access tied to people’s economic status.

“I don’t think anyone wants to see that,” he said. “We’d rather see getting vaccines in people who need it the most and get as far through our seniors as we can.”

Though the Public Health Branch has made progress in that endeavor, there are still more who need shots, Rehwaldt said. Public Health staff are also looking to vaccinate teachers and daycare workers.

It was Del Norte County Board of Supervisors Chairman Chris Howard to asked Rehwaldt his opinion on Blue Shield as a third-party administrator for vaccine rollout.

Rehwaldt said he expected to have his first face-to-face meeting with a local Blue Shield contact on Wednesday. He expressed continuing concern about how the third-party administrator would affect allocation strategy and if it would affect an already limited supply.

According to Rehwaldt, the third-party administrator has recommendation authority, but isn’t authorized to make a final decision when it comes to vaccine allocation.

“They’re also tasked with other parts of the whole problem — getting public information out, setting up better vaccination resources, getting more sites up and running,” he said. “I’m not entirely convinced they’re necessary, but if they do their job well I think overall they probably will benefit. But we’re worried about the allocation formula that might come out of this that it will further crimp what we are supplied in terms of vaccination allocation.”

Howard, who represents Del Norte County on the California State Association of Counties and its Rural County Representatives of California caucus, said how a third-party administrator might impact management of the vaccine at a county level is a concern his colleagues have expressed to California Governor Gavin Newsom.

Rehwaldt also touched on testing, saying Verily will conclude its service to Del Norte County this week and will be replaced by OptumServe. There will also be a mobile testing unit available five days a week instead of three that would visit Smith River, Klamath and Crescent City, Rehwaldt said.

“We are told it’s the very first one beyond the prototype,” he said. “We are going to be a testing environment to see how well the system works.”

Like Verily, there will be an online portal for residents to sign up to be tested. They will be given an appointment time and will likely walk up to the clinic to supply a swab, according to Rehwaldt.

“We hope to have it running next week,” he said.

For more information about the new testing system, visit Del Norte’s COVID-19 Information Hub.

Documents:

• Rehwaldt PSA

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