California Governor Gavin Newsom Promises 1 Million Covid-19 Vaccinations “In The Next 10 Days”

Acknowledging that California has repeatedly missed its stated Covid-19 vaccination targets, Governor Gavin Newsom made a bold commitment on Friday.

“We have a specific goal of a million vaccinations in the next 10 days,” said Newsom. The governor then corrected himself noting that, since the new target was announced on Thursday, it was now actually 9 days.

To help with that lofty goal, Newsom announced the state had loosened some its guidance in terms of who can get the vaccine when.

“We updated the guidelines recognizing some of the bottlenecks,” he said. County partners were “looking for more flexibility” as to whom they could vaccinate when.

California had originally promised to vaccinate 2 million front line workers before the end of 2020. As part of the new flexibility, the state broadened the list of residents who are eligible for the vaccine to all those who fall under Phase 1a of its distribution plan.

The governor also revealed he was committing $372 million to vaccine disbursement. He said those funds do not need legislative approval because he plans to use money from an emergency fund. And it is, indeed, an emergency.

There were 50,030 new cases reported in California on Friday. That’s the fourth largest daily total ever. Daily case totals over 40,000 are becoming commonplace in the state.

The state saw 493 new deaths over the previous 24 hours. That’s the third-highest total of lives lost during the pandemic. That means CA’s three deadliest days of the outbreak occurred in the last 10 dqys.

Test positivity rate was 13.3%. That’s up from 12.3% in less than a week.

The state had 22,836 virus patients hospitalized on friday, just 12 shy of the all-time high.

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