As Bay Area counties struggle to vaccinate as many people as possible, especially those most at risk, COVID-19 vaccine supplies continue to be hit or miss.
While one big provider announced it has plenty of doses for now, others are coming up short.
At one of the many vaccination clinics popping up across the region, there was a sign Thursday that read “no vaccines, ran out”
“We just received a confirmation last night on our phones, so it’s really surprising,” said Vijay Char of Aptos.
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He and his wife drove more than 100 miles to get their shots at Fairfield’s Dunnell Nature Park Education Center.
Dozens more people found that sign and a phone number, which Char called.
“They said ‘these things happen, and we just have to try again and keep trying,’” he said.
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On Tuesday, Solano County’s Health Officer told NBC Bay Area that shortages are still holding back efforts to get shots in arms as fast as possible.
“We could easily vaccinate three, four, five times as many people per week as we have been, but we’re doing the best that we can,” said Dr. Bela Matyas.
NBC Bay Area reached out to Solano County about running out of vaccines at this clinic but were unable to get answers as to why people weren’t notified – or who was even operating it.
The Chars are still trying to be understanding in these trying times.
“It’s frustrating, and disappointing, but it’s a weird situation,” said Char. “We’ve just gotta roll with it.”
Meanwhile, Santa Clara County Health System says it hasn’t received enough doses to resume widespread vaccinations of first doses there.
Its Eastridge Mall site and others targeting populations hardest hit by the virus continue to schedule first doses. But county health officials say they could vaccinate a lot more people every day if they had enough doses.
Meanwhile, Sutter Health, which had to cancel tens of thousands of first and second dose vaccinations notices a few weeks ago, now says it’s been able to reschedule nearly all of those appointments.
Other Bay Area vaccine providers no doubt want to be in the same situation Sutter is in, making and keeping vaccination appointments. They hope supply shortages will soon be a thing of the past, as promised by the governor’s office and the White House.
