On March 25, 2021, Governor Gavin Newsom announced the State’s plan to expand COVID-19 vaccine eligibility. Individuals 50+ will be eligibility to make an appointment on April 1 and individuals 16+ will be eligibility to make an appointment on April 15. The decision to expand eligibility is based on current estimates of federal vaccine allocation to the state. California is slated to be allocated approximately 2.5 million first and second doses per week in the first half of April, with an increase to more than 3 million the second half of April. The state is currently receiving approximately 1.8 million doses per week. The state has the capacity to administer more than 3 million vaccines per week and is building the capacity to administer 4 million vaccines weekly by the end of April.
The new eligibility requirements will be incorporated into the vaccine allocation methodology with the transition starting March 22 over a four-week period. The current distribution allocation is based on the 65+ population, workers in the agriculture and food, education and childcare, and emergency services sectors and will move to distribution based on the 16+ population across the state. This transition will be done in conjunction with the completion of the move to the third party administrator directly allocating vaccines to providers. In addition, the State provided guidance on prioritization for currently eligible populations in high-impact areas. The State will continue to double the amount of vaccine allocated to communities in the lowest quartile of Health Place Index as announced on March 4.