Kaiser Permanente is ramping up the distribution of COVID-19 vaccination for senior members in a development being welcomed in the Bay Area and across California.
After weeks of lagging behind in its distribution that left some people 65 years and older frustrated, Kaiser chief executive Greg Adams announced this weekend that California officials had increased the healthcare giant’s vaccine allotment to more accurately reflect its large share of the state’s healthcare market.
As a result, Kaiser is starting to schedule appointments several weeks out and will offer vaccine appointments to members who are 65 and older.
“This will make it easier for you to get an appointment and plan ahead for your vaccination,” Adams said in the statement issued late Saturday night.
In another positive step toward vaccinating the region, Costco became the latest retail chain to announce that it would begin offering coronavirus vaccine doses to Bay Area residents.
Starting this week, Costco plans to start vaccinating eligible individuals at select stores across California, including one in Marin County, according to a company statement released Saturday. The Costco vaccines typically are Moderna, the release said.
The Costco store located at 300 Vintage Way in Novato will be the first in the Bay Area to offer vaccination appointments. Eligible people currently are limited to essential health care workers.
The expansion of distribution represents an increase in doses being supplied by California. The state distributes its vaccine supply each week among its 58 counties and nine multi-county healthcare networks, including Kaiser Permanente. But Kaiser officials for weeks had complained that it was receiving a disproportionately small share of vaccines.
At the beginning of February, Santa Clara’s Kaiser facility had to cancel 5,200 vaccine appointments for older patients because it did not have enough supplies.
In a statement last month, Adams said that Kaiser, which serves nearly a quarter of Californians, was receiving about 40,000 vaccine doses per week but had the capacity to administer more than 200,000 shots. He said the company’s only limitation was getting the vaccine.
Kaiser officials said they are scheduled to receive 20% of California’s vaccine supply this week. It would allow the provider to deliver more than 600,000 vaccine doses a week across California, the company statement said.
Unlike Sutter Health and UC San Francisco Health, which have provided vaccinations to people over age 65 for weeks, Kaiser is beginning to make more appointments for members between the age of 65 and 75.
Kaiser officials said they are initially reaching out to people over the age of 65 and who are at the highest risk of exposure or complications from COVID-19. Those would include members with underlying medical conditions and high-risk professions.
Kaiser members still cannot email or call the company to make an appointment but must wait for the healthcare provider to contact them and inform them that they are eligible for a vaccine appointment.
Arjun Batra of San Jose said a Kaiser representative called him Saturday to offer to make an appointment. But Batra, 75, got his inoculation at Levi’s Stadium through Santa Clara County’s program after his original appointment at Kaiser had been canceled.
Batra, 75, said he had waited on hold for three hours to make the appointment with Kaiser. But he said he was not upset, saying he knew it was beyond the nonprofit’s control.
Marguerite Sinnett of Morgan Hill said she had a similar feeling about Kaiser, her healthcare provider.
“I felt if they had the vaccine they would have known how to get it in people’s arms very fast,” she said.
Like Batra, Sinnett, 78, said she got vaccinated through Santa Clara County’s program because Kaiser didn’t have enough supply.
Ken and Harriet Gridley of Los Altos had better luck than Batra and Sinnett. They got an appointment in mid-January to get the vaccines at Kaiser’s facility in San Rafael, the couple said Sunday.
Like many other people, it wasn’t easy making an appointment, Ken Gridley, 71, said. Harriet, 72, gave up after being on hold for four hours one night. She got through the next morning after a 90-minute wait, Ken said.
As of Saturday, Kaiser had vaccinated more than 666,000 Californians, including more than 125,000 health care workers and hundreds of thousands of seniors who are 75 and older, according to the company.
“With vaccine supply steadily increasing, we look forward to the day when all our members and communities can be vaccinated,” Adams said in a statement.
Batra said Sunday that he was glad Kaiser representatives are now contracting eligible members to get vaccinated because he wants to see the country get past the coronavirus pandemic.
So is Arlene Ru, 80, who got her vaccines through Kaiser in Santa Clara.
“I’m excited for the people who haven’t had the shot,” she said. “We can start doing more with them.”