COVID-19 Vaccine Allocation Guidelines

Based on available supply, individuals described below are or will be eligible for COVID-19 vaccines:
• Phase 1A* (healthcare workers and a LTC residents): 3,142,166 Californians
• Phase 1B
– Food/Agriculture***, Education/Childcare**, and Emergency Services***: 5,960,528 Californians
– 65+: 6,254,300 Californians
Beginning March 15, healthcare providers may use their clinical judgement to vaccinate individuals age 16-64 who are deemed to be at the very highest risk for morbidity and mortality from COVID-19 as a direct result of one or more of the severe health conditions included in this provider bulletin.
Achieving equity
This age-based framework will be coupled with a vaccine distribution and engagement approach that prioritizes disproportionately impacted communities, settings, and populations to ensure those eligible for vaccines within these communities are more likely to receive it.
Minimizing disuse of scarce COVID-19 vaccine
To avoid wastage or disuse of scarce supplies and maximize their benefit to Californians:
• Allocations of doses are made on the assumption that immunization will be accepted by some but not all who are offered the vaccine, and then adjust later allocations based on the number of doses that are accepted.
• After focused and appropriate efforts to reach the groups prioritized at that moment, providers may offer vaccine promptly to persons in lower priority groups when:
– Demand subsides in the current groups, or
– Doses are about to expire according to labeling instructions.
• Providers may temporarily adjust prioritization based on other resource constraints while continuing efforts to immunize higher priority groups as soon as feasible.
For more information about this go to https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/CID/DCDC/Pages/COVID-19/VaccineAllocationGuidelines.aspx.
Source: www.cdph.ca.gov