Everyone 16 and older is now eligible to get the COVID-19 vaccine in California.
The floodgates have opened for millions to sign up, but the primary problem remains a lack of supply, with demand for appointments far outweighing the available doses.
This comes as we are getting new data on the efficacy of the vaccine.
"Unfortunately it’s going to make people hesitant, and it really shouldn’t," Dr. Mauricio Heilbron, Vice Chief of Staff at St. Mary’s Medical Center in Long Beach. "I think we’re looking at the numbers the wrong way. The pause in the J&J vaccine, which is all over the news right now, has to be looked at as the CDC and these pharmaceutical companies actually doing the right thing."
He said the caution being exercised by the CDC should give people comfort that the safety of the vaccine is being taken very seriously.
"I have a feeling in a week they’re going to realize that it has nothing to do with the vaccine," he said. "Just looking at the numbers, it makes sense that there’s probably something else going on besides the vaccine and this is just no different than random."
Dr. Heilbron said that normally, about five out of every million people will develop cerebral venous sinus thrombosis or CVST, so six cases out of the nearly seven million people to receive the vaccine is actually below the average. He adds that COVID-19 also carries a risk of developing CVST.
All of the patients affected are white women between the ages of 18-48 and the number of reported cases has remained at six since the pause was announced Tuesday.
While that may sound like a lot of cases, that is out of the 77 million Americans who are fully vaccinated.
"That’s almost close to nothing and it is to be expected," said Dr. Heilbron.
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