Dr. Hoffman discusses local Covid-19 vaccine supply and demand, how the J&J pause will impact it

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HUMBOLDT COUNTY, Calif. (KIEM) — While Covid-19 vaccine supply has increased recently in Humboldt County, it hasn’t quite caught up to the local demand.

Humboldt County received more vaccine doses from the state this week than in the past. Up from about 4,000 doses to more than 11,000, but County Health Officer Dr. Ian Hoffman is hesitant when it comes to future allocations.

“I am not confident that we will continue to get that level of vaccine, especially given what’s going on with the Johnson & Johnson pause, with the administrative error in a plant that was manufacturing Johnson & Johnson, and with small decrease that’s coming to California over the next couple of weeks,” Hoffman says.

Hoffman adds that the sooner the Johnson & Johnson pause is lifted the better.

“Probably won’t have a significant impact if it’s lifted in the next few days or week considering that locally we have plenty of vaccine on hand to make up for that,” Hoffman says.

Demand continues to outweigh supply. Just last week, a message was sent out about hundreds of available appointments over the weekend. They were all filled within three hours.

“We’re seeing the rest of the clinics that we open, up to 1300 doses in a day, are filling up rather quickly. So I think the demand is still very high and we hope that we can continue to meet that demand with this increased supply,” Hoffman added.

According to Dr. Hoffman, the County continues to use up all doses within 7 days.

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