As the COVID-19 vaccine continues to be distributed worldwide, Sonoma County is coming across some setbacks with their rollout because they are running out of dosages. Vaccine appointments are getting canceled because of the shortage in supply. This mainly includes appointments for school employees, as they are the group next in line.

According to The Press Democrat, Sonoma County officials made the decision to cancel appointments for individuals who were supposed to get their first dose of the vaccine. They are also not allowing clinics that were supposed to vaccinate teachers and people who work with children to open next week.

As stated on ABC 7 News, this vaccine shortage is highly impacting schools in the area. Sonoma County had a plan to start opening schools and re-start in-person learning, however, this shortage is causing everything to be postponed because the staff isn’t able to get vaccinated. J.R. Stone, ABC 7 News anchor states, “Sonoma County expects to receive about 7,500 next week, it’s too early to tell when the county will receive any of the just authorized Johnson & Johnson vaccines.” 

Dr. Urmila Shende, the county’s vaccine chief spoke with The Press Democrat about the issue. According to Shende, the county originally had plans to provide over 40,000 doses of the vaccination per week because of the amount of infrastructure that Sonoma County has, however, it is predicted that the county will only receive enough vaccines to provide 7,680 doses. “It’s very frustrating,” Shende said.

The county vaccine site coordinator, Ken Tasseff spoke with The Press Democrat as well, providing more details on the issue at hand. Tasseff said, “The flow of vaccine is so tight that the county is able to fulfill its existing second-dose appointments only because Kaiser Permanente is “helping us out” with 250 doses.” Tasseff also added that no clinics that already exist will be completely canceled, except for the ones that were delegated for the faculty at Rancho Cotate High School. Also, no additional clinics that have not started will be scheduled to open. 

On the bright side, some Sonoma State University faculty members have been able to receive their first dosage of the vaccine, which is a positive step in the future of resuming in-person classes at Sonoma State University. “I received the vaccine because of volunteer work I do in the community,” said biology professor Shannon Lee. Professor Rachel Donham also got vaccinated because she is a full-time employee elsewhere. “I was fortunate to be vaccinated at my other work place,” said Donham. 

Despite some faculty members managing to get vaccinated, it has been difficult for every faculty member at Sonoma State to get an appointment to get vaccinated. There is also not a specific plan in place for all the faculty members to get vaccinated. “There has been no word yet as to whether SSU plans to have a temporary on-campus vaccination site for all staff and professors once all are eligible or if we will need to go through our health care providers or the county directly,” Lee said. 

The county wants to start providing first dosages of the vaccine to educators again sometime this week if the shortage isn’t as severe. In addition to that, Sonoma County has reached the positive record of logging more than 32,777 second doses of vaccine, which is more than the 27,925 confirmed cases of COVID-19 according to The Press Democrat. Also, Dr. Urmila Shende mentioned that even though there is a shortage of vaccines, the eligibility requirements will not be altered. Sonoma County will still be providing vaccines to people above the age of 65, as well as workers in agriculture, food preparation and delivery, emergency services and educators as soon as they become available.

To find out more about vaccine eligibility, visit myturn.ca.gov.