Alameda County’s initial allotment of the Pfizer covid-19 vaccine is expected to arrive this Friday, county health officials said.

“The big headline is, we don’t have it yet,” said Dr. Kathleen Clanon, medical director for Alameda County Health Care Services Agency.

When the shipment of nearly 14,000 doses of the vaccine finally arrives for frontline health care workers, the county will open a clinic three days later on the grounds of St. Rose Hospital in Hayward, Clanon told the Alameda County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday.

All 911 receiving hospitals in Alameda County will receive the vaccine. Most will be shipped directly to medical facilities, Clanon said. High risk hospital workers will first receive the vaccine, in addition, to Emergency Medical Technicians, paramedics, and firefighters. Nursing home patients and staff will also be among the first to receive the vaccine.

Each tray of the vaccine contains 975 doses. Under the current plan, Alameda Health System, which includes Highland Hospital in Oakland, San Leandro Hospital, and Alameda Hospital, will receive three “pizza boxes,” as some have come to calling them due to their shape, or, 2,925 doses.

Kaiser Permanente facilities in Oakland, San Leandro, and Fremont, will also be given 2,925 doses, as well as Sutter Health hospitals. Alameda County 911 first responders will receive roughly 1,500 doses, while Washington Hospital in Fremont, and Valleycare in the Tri-Valley will receive 975.

St. Rose Hospital expects roughly 500 doses. The Berkeley Public Health Department, which is separate from Alameda County, will receive its own allocation, Clanon said.

Meanwhile, long-term hope brought on by the release of the vaccine is doing little to stem short-term effects brought on by the infection in Alameda County.

Alameda County recently saw 1,000 new cases in a single day. “We’re seeing very high daily case reports at this time,” Dr. Nicholas Moss said on Tuesday. “This is far and away the worst it has been in Alameda County and the state.” As of Tuesday, the county has reported 38,218 total cases of the coronavirus since last March, including 546 deaths.

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