Contra Costa ramping up vaccinations, residents aged 75+ now eligible

CONTRA COSTA COUNTY—County Health Services have expanded eligibility for the vaccine to include residents aged 75 and older (part of Phase 1B/Tier 1 group). Frontline essential workers in Phase 1B/Tier 1 will come online soon.

CCHS wants people to eventually receive the vaccine from their own healthcare provider (Kaiser, Sutter, John Muir), but as those systems ramp up, CCHS will vaccinate all currently eligible residents. Once other systems get in place, Health Services can refer outstanding appointments to the appropriate system to get them into the soonest appointment.

Residents 75 and older, as well as other eligible people who live and work in Contra Costa, can request a vaccination appointment online with the County. After you submit the form, Health Services staff will review your request. If approved, you will receive instructions on how to schedule a vaccination appointment using the MyChart website. Please note that demand for the vaccine is high but the county has limited supplies right now. This means only a limited number of appointments exist.

Making an appointment

At this point, they will only be booking appointments online. They will be adding a toll-free appointment call center next week. That call center phone number will be available on the County Health Coronavirus website at CCHealth.org/coronavirus.

Contra Costa County can meet its immunization goals if every hospital and healthcare provider in the community pitches in. CCHS is coordinating closely with hospitals, independent providers, pharmacies and clinics to ensure the vaccine is available for everyone.

The county’s healthcare system is gearing up to provide as many as 7,000 vaccines daily to immunize all eligible residents over the next six months. The goal? Immunize about 80% of everyone who can get vaccinated in Contra Costa – eventually about 725,000 county residents. Health Services believes 80% is what we need to achieve herd immunity, which will stop the virus from spreading quickly in our community.

Contra Costa Health Services and its partners have administered more than 30,000 doses in the three weeks since the COVID-19 vaccine became available in Contra Costa, and are working hard to build on this start.

Expanding vaccination process

Contra Costa County will expand staffing and infrastructure in preparation for this widespread community vaccination campaign. CCHS partnered with Safeway and Rite-Aid to vaccinate eligible groups in the county.

The county expects to triple the number of vaccines offered this week as capacity grows. CCHS projects:

• They will give 9,500 vaccine shots this week alone (through Jan. 17)
• Nearly 26,200 shots will be given the following week (Jan. 18-24)
• Nearly 36,000 shots will be given the week of Jan. 25-31

These projections are subject to change depending on considerations such as staffing and vaccine supply.

Find information and updates about the COVID-19 vaccine (but not appointments) at 1-844-729-8410 or cchealth.org/coronavirus.