Officials from the Governor’s Office for Emergency Services announced Wednesday that immediate vaccination schedules are available at the federally administered site in Cal State LA, regardless of eligibility.
But by 9 a.m. on Thursday morning, everything had changed and people were back.
OES told Eyewitness News that appointments for eligible people ended overnight. This meant that those who did not have an appointment, aged between 18 and 50, would not be able to receive a vaccine as previously thought. This is a problem that the site has not encountered all week.
Many who went to the site with a sense of relief that they might get their shots were quickly frustrated.
“We’ve been waiting in line for about an hour now … a little over, there were a lot of people,” said Dan Marcus of Studio City. “(We were told) it was good to get in here. We’re at the top of the line and now we’re being told we have to schedule and we’re not eligible for shooting.”
Thursday’s situation is a stark contrast to Wednesday, when people entered without any problems.
“Oh, the process was great, God, it was so fast,” Anthony Marquez said. “(I) queued up at 16:44 and was on my way home at 17:22”
Officials say they will prioritize appointments made through the state’s My Tower website.
Before these appointments were filled quickly, the LA county director of public health said it was likely the result of scheduling issues, not a sign of declining demand.
Barbara Ferrer also said that even if there is a sudden wide availability of appointments, this does not mean that the county should immediately extend the eligibility of all people aged 16 and over, which is scheduled to take place on April 15.
“There are 5.5 million people in eligible groups (currently) and they have not received the first dose,” Ferrer said. “… We only opened for people aged 50 just a few days ago, so we are going to continue to make sure that there is good access. “
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The county public health department even announced online the availability of vaccination schedules for Thursday at its county-administered immunization sites, especially on the large Six Flags Magic Mountain site.
But Ferrer noted that meeting slots often open in waves, as sites cannot list available appointments until they are secured with the supply of doses.
“One of the dilemmas here is that we are still struggling to schedule appointments ahead of time, and many of us are even able to schedule meetings just a few days before … people can go and get vaccinated,” he said. “We’re really trying our best to get a smoother forecast ahead of time.”
Often, when people go online and find a lot of slots available, “it’s because someone just opened a series of dates,” Ferrer said.
She said health officials are monitoring activity at various vaccination sites and, if appointments are not met, capacity will increase at other places with higher demand. She said the county was “looking for what might explain why some sites have more availability this week,” but said vaccine doses are not unused. She mentioned that the county generally administers about 95% of the doses it receives in seven days.
“The goal here is always and we have been wonderful in that … (to) introduce the vaccine into people’s arms over a seven-day period and never carry a vaccine from week to week,” she said. “And I’ve always met that goal.”
She said she did not anticipate a reversal of this trend this week, despite a sharp increase in scheduling availability.
“Until we start to see a problem this week with actually meeting appointments for the rest of the week, I’d say we’re on a pretty good track record to make sure these doses are actually administered,” she said.
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