The Sacramento Bee's story does not fully account for the current problems regarding the COVID-19 vaccine in California. The current problems are not with supply but distribution.
True, the article's emphasis is on the pace of vaccine production, which we all wish were faster, and it does acknowledge the complexity of California's current distribution plan, which is a bottleneck to getting shots in arms, the pace of production is a problem only if California’s rate of vaccinations exceeds the amount of vaccines received. So far, California’s rate of vaccinations is far short the pace of production.
Even CDPH's own stats from its daily press releases bear this out:
"As of January 19, providers have reported administering a total of 1,525,816 vaccine doses statewide. Numbers do not represent true day-to-day change as reporting may be delayed. As of January 19, a total of 4,112,400 vaccine doses, which includes the first and second dose, have been shipped to local health departments and health care systems that have facilities in multiple counties."
The federal government first announced its support for a robust vaccine program on March 30, 11 days after Newsom imposed his first stay-at-home orders.
The federal government even ran a pilot program to test vaccine distribution plans last summer with four states and one city – including California. Not only are the four jurisdictions outperforming California in vaccine distributions, so too are nearly all the other states.
Gov. Newsom had almost nine months to get his part of the job - distribution - in place and ready.
The federal government and pharmaceutical companies did their part - develop safe and effective vaccines - in record time.
The state has failed to do its part - distribution - despite having almost a year of advance notice and participating in a federal pilot program on distribution.
Bottom line: While it's true that vaccine production and the ability to vaccinate both could be potential bottlenecks to the speed with which the state gets residents vaccinated, the state's emphasis on supply being the only issue is entirely disingenuous. It's spin to distract us from seeing the state's failure.
Sacramento Bee Story: It could Take Until June to Vaccinate Californians 65 and Older, Health Officials Say: https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article248652255.html