After California Gov. Gavin Newsom made the public goal Jan. 8 of administering 1 million COVID-19 vaccines in 10 days, the state health department is unable to determine whether the initiative succeeded due to a series of data collection issues, the Los Angeles Times reports.
Six details:
1. A California Department of Public Health spokesperson told the publication Jan. 20 that it is likely the state reached the 1 million mark over 12 days, not the 10 days promised. The spokesperson added that coding problems and data lags have hindered the state's efforts to accurately count and publicly report how many doses are administered daily.
2. In the last week, the state identified a coding error, which has yet to be resolved, with data from a major COVID-19 vaccines provider. The depth of the underreporting from that provider was not clear as of Jan. 20, according to the report.
3. The state also discovered reporting delays with data from other providers up to 96 hours between when a dose was given and when it appeared in the California immunization system.
4. The data reporting delays are partially the result of issues with California's immunization registry, which has required some jurisdictions to reenter data multiple times because the system kicks them out, according to a letter sent to Mr. Newsom Jan. 18 by health officials in the state's counties.
5. California administered a record 110,505 doses on Jan. 15, and a state public health department spokesperson said Jan. 20 that the tally from Jan. 15 could be higher when data issues are corrected, making it possible that the state met Mr. Newsom's 10-day goal.
6. California has used 37 percent of the vaccine doses it has received, according to Jan. 20 figures from the public health department.