The University of California, Davis, has vaccinated tens of thousands of people against COVID-19, but has not had sufficient supply to keep up with demand.
“We are committed to helping our community achieve herd immunity,” said Kelly Ratliff, vice chancellor for Finance, Operations and Administration.
°ϲĻϢ Davis is following government-specified phases and tiers of vaccine allocation, and outreach efforts with community partners will continue as the vaccine supply allows.
Davis campus
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The Davis campus vaccine clinic has the capacity to administer 1,200 shots per week when doses are available, and could boost capacity by expanding hours and days of operation. However, the vaccine supply continues to be significantly lower than demand, so the campus location is currently vaccinating only about 600 people per week until the supply runs out.
“With vaccine supply still highly unpredictable, we are doing our best to prioritize appointments for °ϲĻϢ Davis employees at the highest risk of exposure — mainly individuals working in person, on campus,” said Cindy Schorzman, medical director for Student Health and Counseling Services. “Student EMTs in our °ϲĻϢ Davis Fire Department stand ready to administer vaccine doses as they become available.”
°ϲĻϢ Davis is encouraging employees to get their vaccinations wherever they can, in most cases from their health care providers.
°ϲĻϢ Davis Health
°ϲĻϢ Davis Health (Sacramento campus) has been getting vaccine in arms as quickly as possible. Unpredictability of vaccine supply continues to be a limiting factor in vaccinating the community.
For a time, °ϲĻϢ Davis Health was administering 2,000 vaccinations per day, but it is now down to 800 per day because of the limited supply. The medical center has the capacity to administer as many as 5,000 COVID-19 shots per day, and hold many more clinics for underserved populations, if there were sufficient supply.
“Our goal is both to move quickly, vaccinating as many people as we can, and to move deliberately, ensuring equity and including people who are in underserved populations,” said David Lubarsky, vice chancellor of Human Health Sciences and CEO of °ϲĻϢ Davis Health.
In addition to working to vaccinate tens of thousands °ϲĻϢ Davis Health patients, the medical center is also working closely with Sacramento County Public Health to host clinics in key areas, with non-English outreach and offline efforts to reach people who are not technologically connected. °ϲĻϢ Davis Health also partnered with the health department to make sure thousands of independent physicians, federally qualified health center workers, nursing home staff and dentists had all been vaccinated.
“We have delivered more than 65,000 doses to employee, patients and community members so far,” Lubarsky said. “Among our employees, nearly 95 percent of those eligible to be vaccinated have been vaccinated.”
Unpredictable and limited vaccine supply continues to pose a significant challenge. °ϲĻϢ Davis Health may run out of vaccine doses within the next week, and be forced to postpone all vaccinations, which are now going to teachers, food service workers and underserved populations, until more vaccine doses are delivered.
Media Resources
Melissa Blouin, 530-752-2542, mlblouin@ucdavis.edu