Nearly one-third of Californians are fully vaccinated for COVID-19.
Overall, that number is sure to climb as all residents ages 16 and older in the state's 58 counties are now eligible for a COVID-19 vaccine.
In places like Santa Clara County that figure is actually closer to 50%.
The expansion comes as the state no longer has any counties in the restrictive purple tier with Merced County being the last to climb into the red tier on Wednesday.
In Alameda County, where those 16 and up have been eligible since Tuesday, Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf is grateful for not just the mass vaccination site at the Coliseum but particularly those smaller neighborhood clinics and churches that are reaching communities traditionally leery of government sponsored initiatives.
She got emotional pleading to those still wary of getting the shot.
"This weekend is my mother’s 82nd birthday and it’s the first time my family will get together as a fully vaccinated family," she said. "I cannot wait to hold her because she is the person that I love more than anyone in the world. I’m blessed that she did not fall victim to this horrible disease like other people I know have. So that is my strongest argument to everyone. We cannot lose any more of the people that we love."
Many of Alameda County's hardest hit ZIP codes are in Oakland, where the school district has been reaching out to its older students who qualify, encouraging them to get a shot. In fact, Fremont High School in the city's Fruitvale district has been hosting a vaccination clinic for some time.
State data shows that Thursday's expansion of COVID-19 vaccine pool is likely to push California past the milestone of having half of its 16-and-older population either fully or partially vaccinated.
Sixteen is the youngest age for which any of the vaccines have received emergency use authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Almost 30% of the 16-plus population is considered fully-vaccinated.
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