Jaime Barrientos, a psychology student at Los Angeles Mission College, was searching for information on fall classes a couple weeks ago when he noticed that coronavirus vaccines were being offered during on-campus registration. He messaged a friend who was also unvaccinated and hadn’t planned on getting the shot, and the...
Carrots, Sticks and Jabs: What Will California Do to Win Over Vaccine Skeptics?
Today all Californians 50 and older are now eligible to get their coveted COVID vaccine — including one politically imperiled 53-year-old governor. Gov. Gavin Newsom celebrated this latest benchmark by getting a well-publicized jab himself, thus marking the beginning of the end of what has been a particularly thorny political...
Blue Shield of California Tapped to Speed Up State Vaccines
SAN FRANCISCO — Health insurance giant Blue Shield of California will be the outside administrator tasked with ramping up coronavirus vaccinations, which to date has been slow, stilted and plagued by confusion, the state health agency said in a statement Wednesday. Another major health care provider, Kaiser Permanente, will also...
US Surging Vaccine to States Amid Complaints of Shortages
Answering growing frustration over vaccine shortages, President Joe Biden announced Tuesday that the U.S. is surging deliveries to hard-pressed states over the next three weeks and expects to provide enough doses to vaccinate 300 million Americans by the end of the summer or early fall. Biden, calling the push a...
‘Tedious, Stressful’: Why Older Californians Are Still Struggling to Get Vaccine
For eight days in a row, David Griffin, 67, woke up at 3 or 4 a.m. to search for a rare, coveted COVID-19 vaccine appointment for himself and his wife, 70, who has multiple sclerosis. Two slots he found, at a Ralph’s supermarket, were abruptly cancelled. Finally, Griffin secured two...
Biden More Bullish on Vaccines, Open to 1.5M Daily Shot Goal
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Monday appeared to boost his goal for coronavirus vaccinations in his first 100 days in office, suggesting that the nation could soon be vaccinating 1.5 million Americans on average per day. Biden signaled his increasing bullishness on the pace of vaccinations after signing an...
China Pushes Conspiracy Theories on COVID Origin, Vaccines
TAIPEI, Taiwan — Chinese state media have stoked concerns about Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine, despite rigorous trials indicating it is safe. A government spokesperson has raised the unsubstantiated theory that the coronavirus could have emerged from a U.S. military lab, giving it more credence in China. As the ruling Communist Party...
California May Prioritize Age Above All for COVID-19 Vaccine
SAN FRANCISCO — Advocates for farmworkers, teachers, grocery store clerks and other essential workers are worried they will have to wait until this summer to be vaccinated against the coronavirus as California considers giving priority to older residents. State officials said the move makes sense given older people have a...
Health Experts Blame Rapid Expansion for Vaccine Shortages
Public health experts Thursday blamed vaccine shortages around the U.S. in part on the Trump administration’s push to get states to vastly expand their vaccination drives to reach the nation’s estimated 54 million people age 65 and over. The push that began over a week ago has not been accompanied...
California Pins Vaccine Hopes on Biden Administration
SACRAMENTO — California officials are pinning their hopes on President-elect Joe Biden as they struggle to obtain coronavirus vaccines to curb a coronavirus surge that has packed hospitals and morgues. Doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been arriving haphazardly as they make their way from the federal government through the state...