Gov. Newsom: California Has Tripled COVID Vaccination Rate

SACRAMENTO (CBS13/AP) - Governor Gavin Newsom says California has tripled its rate of COVID-19 vaccinations since the beginning of the month.

"We have tripled our rate of administration of the vaccine," he said on Monday. "We're just getting going...you can see with over 400,000 tests just yesterday, California."

Click here to watch Newsom's address, currently underway

On the fourth of January, the state was vaccinating around 43,000 people per day. On the 15th, the state was administering 131,000 vaccines per day, the governor illustrated in a graphic.

"This is more like a large ship. It takes a little bit of time to shift course but when it shifts course, it builds tremendous momentum, that's exactly what we have done," he said.

The lessons he says the state has learned through its push dubbed "10-Day Challenge" to vaccinate more Californians include the need to simplify who can get the vaccine, standardize vaccine information and data, which varies in its level of complexity by county, and third, the state needs to distribute what it has the push for the federal government to send more.

Governor Newsom also said the state needs to prioritize the vaccination of Californians 65 and over.

California lifted its regional stay-at-home orders across the state Monday in response to improving coronavirus conditions, returning the state to a system of county-by-county restrictions.

The order had been in place in the San Francisco Bay Area, San Joaquin Valley and Southern California, covering the majority of the state's counties.

The change allows restaurants and churches to resume outdoor operations and hair and nail salons to reopen in many areas, though local officials could choose to impose stricter rules. The state is also lifting a 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew.