Santa Clara County Receives Nearly 95,000 COVID-19 Vaccine Doses

Santa Clara County officials announced Thursday that they have received 94,805 doses of the coronavirus vaccine and are working on distributing them to health care workers and people in long-term care facilities.

This is part of the first phase of vaccine distribution, as recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, to those who are considered to be in the "highest risk categories."

"We are moving quickly toward getting everyone in the hospital sector vaccinated, and we will then move on to additional tiers within that first phase," said Dr. Marty Fenstersheib, the COVID-19 testing and vaccine officer for Santa Clara County, during a press conference Thursday.

Fenstersheib said after the county has distributed those vaccines, they will then turn to other health care workers "in community clinics, in private doctors' offices — as well as other ancillary type(s) of workers. And we'll include also dentists and other medical providers in the community."

Health care providers in the county have received 40,605 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and 54,200 doses of the Moderna vaccine, health officials said. More doses are expected next week.

During a press conference announcing the vaccine distribution, officials noted the increased COVID-19 restrictions have appeared to help slow the spread somewhat, despite the ongoing limited ICU capacity and cases continuing to go up.

"The good news — if there's any to be had — is that ... the additional pressure that was put on after Christmas was not as great as we saw after Thanksgiving," said Dr. Ahmad Kamal, county director of health care preparedness, during the press conference. "This shows that actions matter and decisions matter. While it may seem futile given how many cases we are and how prevalent COVID is in our community, we know that our decisions and our actions drive the curve of this pandemic."

Noting the ongoing fragility of the health care system in the region, Kamal also encouraged residents to refrain from gathering for New Year's celebrations.

"There will be time to celebrate. There will be time together. It's not now," he said.

— Michelle Wiley (@MichelleEWiley)