Nearly a Fifth of Santa Barbara County Residents Have Been Fully Vaccinated
Health Officials Predict Early Stages of Herd Immunity As Soon As July
Cottage Health recently reached a milestone of administering 50,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, helping put Santa Barbara County on course for herd immunity as the expansion of vaccine eligibility continues.
Since starting its drive-up vaccine clinic at Goleta Valley Hospital in January, Cottage has hosted 28 clinic days. The Goleta and Buellton Cottage Urgent Care locations have also administered over 3,450 doses.
Cottage Health President and CEO Ron Werft said these numbers would not have been possible without the efforts of hundreds of volunteers, many of whom are retired healthcare professionals. “Every week, we are closer to achieving the level of protection that will keep our community safe,” said Werft.
But Cottage is just one part of the county-wide effort to ramp up vaccinations. About 30 percent of county vaccine distributions have been through Cottage Health, with the remainder coming from other local providers, including private doctors.
Santa Barbara has administered 173,933 of the 198,460 vaccine doses it has received, according to the County Public Health Department’s online data portal. When accounting for shots provided at CVS, Walgreens, or Rite Aid ― which receive their allocations directly from the federal government ― a total of 223,087 vaccinations have been given.
Of the administered doses, approximately 13 percent have gone to people ages 16-29; 24 percent to ages 30-49; 24 percent to ages 50-64; 20 percent to ages 65-74; and 18 percent to 75+. Additionally, 55 percent have been to residents identifying as female and 45 percent to those identifying as male.
Of those shots, 141,544 have been first doses, 72,498 have been second doses, and 8,104 have been single doses of the J&J Janssen vaccine.
As of April 5, 17.7 percent of Santa Barbara County’s population has been fully vaccinated. This breaks down to 13.6 percent of North County residents, 15.1 percent of Central County residents, and 21.2 percent of South County residents.
With the current rate of vaccinations, County Health Director Van Do-Reynoso said on Friday that she anticipates Santa Barbara to reach the beginnings of herd immunity as soon as July, assuming the county does not see a sharp increase in cases before then.
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