The distribution of vaccines follows a set of priority “phases” and “levels” presented by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and by state and local officials, with health workers at the top of the list of priorities in what is known as Phase 1A. . There are three “levels” in that phase, covering different categories of front-line health workers and respondents.
Los Angeles County, for example, is in the middle of the second tier of Phase 1A.
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The revised guide from the California Department of Public Health was issued in hopes of “accelerating the pace of COVID-19 administration.” The Gavin Newsom government mentioned earlier this week that only about a third of the vaccine doses received by the state had actually been administered.
The guide approves health departments to immediately expand the distribution of the vaccine to humans at all three levels of the initial phase. The movement immediately makes the vaccine available to health care workers in areas such as optometry clinics, dental facilities, occupational health, pharmacies, school health centers and specialist clinics.
Health departments were also advised to consider their vaccination efforts the likelihood that some people in higher priority groups would refuse to receive vaccines. Once the agencies have completed their efforts to provide the vaccine to everyone in phase 1A, they can then move on to phase 1B.
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County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said this week that she anticipates it will take until the end of the month to complete distribution to everyone in Phase 1A. The distribution will then move to Phase 1B, starting with all those aged 75 and over and workers considered at high risk of exposure, such as education, food, agriculture, childcare and emergency services.
According to the Los Angeles Times, less than 600,000 doses were administered in California, which has a population of nearly 40 million people.
Ferrer said that since Monday, the county has received more than 185,000 doses of Pfizer vaccine and more than 100,000 have been administered. The county also received 166,300 doses of Modern vaccine, but only 31,915 doses were administered. She said there was a gap in reporting vaccination data, so rates were probably higher.
County health workers can register for immunization appointments at http://publichealth.lacounty.gov/acd/ncorona2019/vaccine/hcwsignup/.
City News Service contributed to this report.
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