Teachers, food workers are now eligible to be vaccinated in LA County – CBS Los Angeles

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) – Teachers and workers in the food and agricultural industries will be among the approximately 1.2 million residents of Los Angeles County, now eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine starting Monday.

Also newly eligible for vaccination are childcare workers, law enforcement personnel and emergency services workers. They will be joined by health workers and those over the age of 65, who have been receiving the vaccine for several weeks now.

However, health officials said these workers will have to be patient as the supply of vaccines remains limited and staff are trained to ensure that only eligible people receive fire.

Therefore, it will take a long time to vaccinate these groups, unless the supply of vaccines increases significantly, said Dr. Paul Simon, chief executive of the Department of Public Health in LA County. “We urge the patience of the public as we carry out this process as soon as possible.”

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About 700,000 LA County residents over the age of 65 still do not receive the first dose.

The city of LA expects to receive about 70,000 doses of Moderna vaccine on Monday, which will serve mainly secondary doses at the six mass vaccination sites – San Fernando Park, Hansen Dam, Crenshaw Christian Center, Lincoln Park, Pierce College and Dodger Stadium – when they reopen on Tuesday after being closed on Sunday and Monday.

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“Our vaccination program has faced many challenges, but we have stated that nothing will interfere with our mission to deliver this life-saving vaccine to Angelenos as quickly and safely as possible,” Mayor Garcetti said in a statement Sunday. “Opening eligibility for more groups of key workers will save more lives and accelerate our recovery. We are encouraged to hear commitments for more vaccines from our federal and state partners and to be prepared to expand our operations so that we can end this pandemic. ”

All second doses for this week are automatically scheduled for patients who received the first dose in a city between February 1 and February 6. Patients will receive notifications with details of the meeting by Sunday evening.

The city’s mobile sites will triple their total capacity this week, increasing the doses administered to vulnerable communities from 4,000 to 12,000, officials said.

Garcetti’s office also said the city has begun planning to integrate the FDA-approved Johnson & Johnson vaccine into its inventory in the coming weeks. Governor Newsom said Saturday that California could receive up to 380,000 doses of Johnson & Johnson vaccine this week.

On Friday, Simon said sites run by LA County expect to receive a total of 269,000 doses this week, up from 211,000 last week. With the county set aside a majority of those for the second dose, a total of 103,000 primary doses will be available this week for the three worker sectors and for people aged 65 and over.

Governor Gavin Newsom has mandated that 10% of all vaccines received in the state be reserved immediately for teachers, child care workers and other members of the school. But splitting the allocation of education among the 80 school districts in Los Angeles County will be a weekly challenge.

To address the issue, the county has devised a complex formula aimed at eliminating the vaccine in a fair way. Of the doses allocated to the education sector each week, 9% will be automatically directed to private schools in the county, reflecting the percentage of county students they serve.

The county’s 80 individual school districts – with the exception of Long Beach and Pasadena, which have their own health departments – will be divided into five groups. The remaining available doses will be divided between those groups based on a formula that assesses the overall enrollment factors of students; the percentage of students living in poverty – based on those eligible for free or reduced-price lunches; COVID case rates in each community; and whether schools have already provided in-person services for students in greater need.

The formula means that LAUSD – the second largest school district in the country – is likely to receive about 40% of the doses available in the education sector each week.

The state has authorized shootings since March 15 for anyone aged 16 and over with a underlying condition that puts them at higher risk of serious illness or death from COVID. The director of public health, Barbara Ferrer, said last week that it is still unclear whether the county will actually extend eligibility to that group on March 15 due to supply problems.

Here is the full list of groups below level 1B that are now eligible for the vaccine. For more information or to check your eligibility, click here:

(1) Persons over 65 years of age

(2) Education and care of children
• Public schools (K-12)
• Independent schools
• Charter schools
• Kindergarten and early education
• Contracted educational support staff
• Junior colleagues
• Colleges and universities
(3) Emergency services
• Law enforcement officers / officers
• National security
• Correction officers and workers
• Courts / legal counsel and prosecutor’s office
• Campus and school police
• Rehabilitation and re-entry
• Federal law enforcement agencies
• Police, fire and ambulance dispatchers
• Security staff to maintain control of access to buildings and physical security measures
• DCFS, APS (workers who are physically responsible for the abuse and neglect of children, the elderly and dependent adults)
(4) Food and agriculture
• Food service workers
• Food industry workers
• Grocery store workers
• Workers in animal husbandry, including those involved in veterinary health
• Farm workers
• Veterinarians
• Port and transport workers associated with food and agriculture

(© Copyright 2021 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All rights reserved. City News Service contributed to this report.)