Nearly a third of Californians 18 and older — 30.7 percent — are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, a key metric just days after the state made everyone 16 and older eligible for a dose.
More than half of adults — 53.3 percent — have received at least one shot of the vaccination, according to data from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Vaccines manufactured by pharmaceutical companies Pfizer and Moderna require two vaccine shots spaced several weeks apart, a vaccine manufactured by Johnson & Johnson only requires one dose but its use has been paused as health officials analyze data on extremely rare blood clots reported by six people.
Vaccination rates are even higher among people 65 and older. Of those residents, 84.9 percent have received at least one dose and 62.3 percent are fully vaccinated.
Everyone 16 and older is eligible to get vaccinated in the state, and appointments can be made through the state’s MyTurn website or by calling (833) 422-4255. The state has so far administered almost 24.7 million vaccine doses, 79.7 percent of those delivered to California, according to the Department of Public Health. The state is averaging 387,325 daily injections.
Rising vaccination numbers come as new COVID-19 cases remain relatively steady several weeks after a winter surge that started in November and peaked over the holidays. On Friday, California counties reported 2,817 new cases, according to data tracked by this news organization. The state has a seven-day average of 2,961, a 9 percent increase from a week ago but down from a Jan. 10 peak of 44,629 daily cases. There have been 3,688,954 COVID-19 cases in the state since the start of the pandemic, although that number doesn’t include infections that went untested.
Los Angeles County, the largest and hardest hit in the state, reported 600 new cases on Friday, followed by San Diego County with 317 cases and San Bernardino County with 202. They were followed by Sacramento, Riverside and Kern counties.
The number of patients hospitalized or in intensive care unit beds with confirmed COVID-19 cases has also continued to improve. There were 1,833 confirmed COVID-19 patients hospitalized in the state on Thursday, a 1.7 percent decline from the preceding day. There were also 433 patients in ICU beds with COVID-19, a 5.7 percent decline from the preceding day.
Deaths, which tend to lag behind cases by several weeks, have also continued declining from their winter surge peak. Counties reported 120 fatalities on Friday, for a seven-day average of 100 daily deaths. That a roughly 5 percent decrease from a week ago and down from a Jan. 27 peak of 566 average daily deaths. So far, 60,575 people have died from COVID-19 in California.
Los Angeles County reported 32 fatalities on Friday, followed by San Bernardino and Orange counties both with 17 deaths each. They were followed by San Diego, Kern and Riverside counties.
In the Bay Area, Santa Clara County has reported the most total cases and on Friday added 94 cases and five deaths, for a total of 116,772 cases and 2,013 deaths since the start of the pandemic. Alameda County reported 115 cases and zero new deaths, for a total of 85,077 cases and 1,475 deaths. Contra Costa County reported 89 new cases and one fatality, for a total of 66,839 cases and 768 deaths.
San Mateo County reported one new case and four deaths, for a total of 41,016 cases and 560 deaths. San Francisco reported four new deaths and has had 35,694 cases and 517 deaths since the start of the pandemic.