Los Angeles County began scheduling COVID-19 vaccination schedules for residents age 65 and older on Tuesday, advancing an effort that was not expected to begin until February, but limited vaccine reserves and uncertainty about allocations. future have left the inoculation effort in doubt.
The county’s director of public health, Barbara Ferrer, said there are adequate vaccine supplies to skip this week’s appointments – about 50,000 of them on public sites – but the county has no idea how many doses it will receive next week.
“One of the problems everyone has had about allocating and distributing from the federal government is that it’s been weekly, which makes it difficult for our sites to do a lot of planning and even makes it difficult to extend appointments beyond. for a few days, which makes it difficult for the public, “she said.
Ferrer and county supervisor Hilda Solis based both hopes
The inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden on Wednesday, saying he is leaving
The Donald Trump administration has been less transparent about the vaccine
distribution.
“Tomorrow, the new federal administration takes control and we expect our situation to improve a lot,” Solis said.
According to Ferrer, at the end of last week, the county had received 685,000 doses of vaccine and more than 70% of them were administered. The county is expected to receive a total of 168,000 doses on Tuesday and Wednesday this week.
Solis announced Monday night that it has signed an executive order making COVID-19 photos available to residents 65 and older. The announcement marked a major policy change, as Ferrer and other health officials previously insisted that the county must end the inoculation of health workers before providing limited supplies of vaccine to the general public.
Eligibility opens Wednesday for residents over the age of 65 who receive COVID-19 vaccines. Patrick Healy reported to NBC4 News on Tuesday, January 19, 2021.
Ferrer downplayed any perceived internal conflict or difference of opinion on Tuesday, saying he did not consider Solis’ executive order an “overburdening of the Department of Public Health.” Ferrer said the county has made tremendous progress in vaccinating health care workers. and recognized the need to vaccinate older residents – who are at higher risk for severe illness and death from COVID-19 – even on the background of the supply of rare vaccines.
“It’s always hard when you’re running out of time, but I appreciate the need for us to be careful to move forward as quickly as possible to make those at high risk, and I think that’s what the strategy has allowed us to do,” she said.
Although Solis initially said the vaccine will be available to people aged 65 and over starting Thursday, officials said the appointments will actually begin on Wednesday.
People who want to schedule appointments can do so online at vaccinateLAcounty.com. People without a computer or the Internet can call 833-540-0473 to make appointments. Officials have urged people to use the online system as much as possible, as there will likely be long waits on the phone line.
But the demand for the vaccine has apparently exceeded the ability of the online programming system to cope with the task. Not long after county officials officially announced the scheduling site on Tuesday afternoon, it collapsed. County officials announced on Twitter that the site and helpline “send thousands of calls and users and face technical difficulties.”
Some web users reported that they could not access the system at all. Others received a message that the site was being maintained, while others managed to start the process only to be kicked out of the system and forced to start over.
County officials said they were working to resolve the issues.
Governor Gavin Newsom announced the revised vaccination guidelines earlier this month, allowing jurisdictions to provide vaccines to people 65 and older. This group was initially several steps in the vaccine’s priority list.
While many jurisdictions, including Orange County and Long Beach, have quickly begun firing on older residents, Los Angeles County has resisted, saying it still has about 500,000 health care workers to be inoculated.
But as progress has been made in this area, Solis said it is essential to provide photos to vulnerable older residents.
“We know that COVID-19 has been particularly harsh for those aged 65 and over,” Solis said. “Look at our numbers. Over 99,000 residents over the age of 65 have been infected with COVID-19; 30,000 of those residents over the age of 65 were hospitalized because of COVID-19; and, tragically, 9,802 residents in this age group died from COVID-19. This is out of 14,000 people who died.
“… It’s about fairness,” she said. “Older adults have been unjustly affected by the virus. They have been at home for months, isolated, which is, as you know, a problem in itself. But the COVID-19 vaccine is here. The hope is here. Our people are here. they will soon be able to return to a life where they can visit their grandchildren, take walks with friends, volunteer at a local kitchen and even come to the LA County Fair at Fairplex once we are
back to normal. “
Concerns about the availability of the vaccine were exacerbated this week, when the state epidemiologist warned suppliers to stop administering doses from a batch of 330,000 Modern vaccines in response to allergic reactions from a handful of people in San Diego.
“More than usual number of possible allergic reactions have been reported with a certain batch of Moderna vaccine given at a community vaccination clinic,” epidemiologist Dr. Erica S. Pan said in a statement late Sunday. “Less than 10 people needed medical care over a 24-hour period. Out of an extreme abundance of precaution and also recognizing the extremely limited supply of vaccine, we recommend providers to use other available vaccine inventories and discontinue “The administration of the Moderna 041L20A vaccines until the investigation by CDC, FDA, Moderna and the state is complete. We will provide an update as we learn more.”
San Diego County health officials confirmed last week that half a dozen health workers who were inoculated at the Petco Park vaccination center suffered from allergic reactions.
These 330,000 doses of Modern vaccine that are no longer available represent 10% of all vaccines received by the state so far – causing a blow to counties like Los Angeles that have requested higher vaccine allocations to keep up with demand.
Los Angeles County opened five large-scale vaccination sites Tuesday at Six Flags Magic Mountain, Cal State Northridge, Pomona Fairplex, the Downey County Board of Education and the Inglewood Forum. The sites will eventually have the capacity to vaccinate 4,000 people daily – depending on the availability of the vaccine.