The change is made for people who have received the first dose of Pfizer vaccine and need the second after 21 days, said Manuel Martinez of the Los Angeles County Fire Department.
County officials reported slow but steady progress in coronavirus vaccination efforts on Friday, but said less than 3 percent of the population had been fully vaccinated, and appointments for the first doses would be difficult to find at this time.
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At the county’s seven large-scale vaccination sites, a limited number of first doses will be given on Monday, with the rest of the weekly schedule reserved exclusively for people in need of a second dose of medication, according to Dr. Paul. Simon, chief of the county health department. To make an appointment, you must also provide documentation.
The county is currently in Phase 1B of vaccine eligibility, which includes people aged 65 and over, with the next group consisting of educators, teachers, childcare workers, food and agriculture workers, and emergency responders.
“So many people want to get vaccinated. This site here could easily accommodate 4,000 people vaccinated a day, really 4,000 cars and we just don’t have vaccines. Today, we only managed to release 1,100 meetings. “said Barbara Ferrer, Director of Public Health in LA County.
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Simon said that while only seven vaccine locations in the county will only administer second doses this week, residents may experience problems in other locations because all providers are dealing with short-term vaccine supplies.
“Unfortunately, the biggest problem we continue to face in terms of our vaccination capacity is the supply shortage and variability in the amount of vaccine we receive each week,” Simon said. “This has been a problem all over the country and it makes planning difficult.”
According to Simon, the latest figures indicate that so far more than 1.05 million doses of vaccine have been administered in the county, including just over 104,000 secondary doses. This means that 2.6% of the county’s population of people aged 16 and over has been completely vaccinated so far. About 11% of the population aged 16 and over received at least one dose.
The slow progress of the vaccination program has led some residents to become creative in finding ways to manipulate the dating system to gain access to photos.
Some people who are not yet eligible to receive the vaccine have begun to persist at vaccination sites with little chance of remaining doses at the end of the day, which must be given to avoid wasting them. Ferrer said this week that there have been problems with people claiming to be carers of children with disabilities who show up at vaccination sites with a generic letter, Xeroxed, identifying them as such.
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Simon pointed out another way in which some people tried to cross the line to receive vaccines. According to Simon, people who received emails from the county about scheduling a meeting for the second dose of vaccine shared with friends the unique web link included in the emails. Those people “then schedule an appointment with the first dose, even if they are not eligible for vaccination at this time.”
“It’s important for people to understand that these actions eliminate access to vaccination from high-risk people who are eligible for the vaccine right now,” Simon said. “When we identify these meetings, they are canceled. I want the public to be aware that people who are not eligible and who come to one of our sites with one of these joint meetings will be rejected. “
He said he did not have figures on the number of people who tried to cross the line in this way, but “it was happening enough that I noticed it very clearly.”
Simon said the county is trying to find a way to change the computer system to prevent such appointments.
City News Service contributed to this report.