Gov. Gavin Newsom urged Californians to “hold me accountable” to a goal of administering 1 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine in 10 days, but nearly two weeks later a series of data collection problems have left state officials unable to offer clear evidence of success or failure.
A spokesperson for the California Department of Public Health said Wednesday that it’s likely Newsom reached the 1 million mark over 12 days, not 10 days as promised, but noted that coding errors and data lags have hampered the state’s efforts to accurately count and publicly report how many doses are administered each day.
Newsom’s self-prescribed litmus test was announced as pressures mounted for him to address the state’s slow vaccination rollout, which has left hundreds of thousands of doses sitting on shelves despite the public’s desperate need for the lifesaving drug.
“We’ve learned a lot about how significant the delay is in data,” Dr. Mark Ghaly, California Health and Human Services secretary, said Tuesday when asked about the status of the 10-day goal set by the governor.
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