Los Angeles County began scheduling COVID-19 vaccination appointments for residents 65 and older on Tuesday, advancing an effort not expected to begin until February, but limited vaccine supply and uncertainty. on future allocations have left the inoculation effort surrounded by doubts.
County public health director Barbara Ferrer said there are adequate vaccine supplies to get this week’s appointments (about 50,000 in public places), but the county has no idea how many more doses it will receive. next week.
“One of the problems everyone has had around the federal government’s allocation and distribution is that it’s been week to week, which makes it difficult to plan our sites and really makes it difficult to extend appointments beyond a few days, which which makes it difficult for the public, ”he said.
Ferrer and county supervisor Hilda Solis trusted their hopes
The inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden on Wednesday, he said, came out
The Donald Trump administration has been little transparent about the vaccine
distribution.
“Tomorrow, the new federal administration takes over and we hope our situation improves a lot,” Solis said.
According to Ferrer, by the end of last week, the county had received 685,000 doses of vaccine and more than 70% had been 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 had signed an executive order to make features of COVID-19 available to residents 65 and older. The announcement meant a major policy change, as Ferrer and other health officials have previously insisted that the county must finish inoculating health workers before offering a limited supply of vaccines to citizens in general.
Eligibility opens Wednesday for residents 65 and older who receive COVID-19 vaccines. Patrick Healy reported on NBC4 News on Tuesday, January 19, 2021.
Ferrer downplayed on Tuesday any perceived internal conflict or difference of opinion, and said he did not consider Solis’ executive order to be a “cancellation of the Department of Public Health.” Ferrer said the county has made tremendous strides in vaccinating health workers. , and recognized the need to vaccinate older residents, who are at higher risk for serious illness and death from COVID-19, even in the midst of scarce vaccine supplies.
“It’s always difficult when exercised in scarcity, but I appreciate the need to be aware of moving forward as quickly as possible to reach those at high risk, and I think that’s what has allowed us to do the strategy, ‘” she said.
Although Solis initially said the vaccine would be available to people over the age of 65 starting Thursday, officials said those appointments will actually begin on Wednesday.
People who want to schedule appointments can do so online at vaccinateLAcounty.com. People without a computer or internet can call 833-540-0473 to request an appointment. Officials urged people to use the system online as much as possible, as there will likely be long waits on the phone line.
But demand for the vaccine apparently exceeded the ability of the online appointment system to handle the load. Shortly after county officials formally announced the appointment’s website Tuesday afternoon, it crashed. County officials announced on Twitter that the website and hotline “were directing thousands of calls and users and had technical difficulties.”
Some web users reported that they could not access the system. Others received the message that the site was in the process of being maintained, while others were able to start the process only to be kicked out of the system and forced to start again.
County officials said they were working to resolve the issues.
Gov. Gavin Newsom announced revised vaccination guidelines earlier this month, allowing jurisdictions to offer vaccines to people 65 and older. That group originally had several steps on the vaccine priority list.
Although many jurisdictions, including Orange County and the city of Long Beach, quickly began offering shots to senior residents, Los Angeles County resisted, saying there were still about 500,000 health workers. which were to be inoculated.
But with the progress made on this front, Solis said it was crucial to start offering shots to vulnerable senior residents.
“We know the COVID-19 has been especially tough on those over 65,” Solis said. “Just look at our numbers. More than 99,000 residents aged 65 and over have been infected with COVID-19; 30,000 of those residents aged 65 and over have been hospitalized because of COVID-19; and, tragically, 9,802 residents in this age group have died from COVID-19.This is one of the 14,000 people who have died.
“… It’s about equity,” he said. “Older adults have been unfairly affected by the virus. They’ve been at home for months in isolation, which, as you know, is a problem in itself. But the COVID-19 vaccine is here. The hope is here. our residents will soon be able to get back to life where they can visit their grandchildren, go for walks with friends, volunteer at a local soup and even come to the Los Angeles County Fair at the Fairplex once we are
returns to normal “.
Concerns about vaccine availability worsened this week when the state epidemiologist warned suppliers to stop administering doses of a batch of 330,000 Modern vaccines in response to allergic reactions they suffered. a handful of people in San Diego.
“A higher-than-usual number of possible allergic reactions were reported with a specific batch of Modern vaccine administered at a community vaccination clinic,” said state epidemiologist Dr. Erica S. Pan. in a statement Sunday afternoon. “Less than 10 people needed medical attention for 24 hours. Due to an extreme abundance of precaution and also to recognize the extremely limited supply of vaccines, we recommend that providers use other available vaccine inventories and pause the administration of vaccines. modern batch 041L20A up to CDC, FDA, Modern and state investigation. 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 inoculated at the Petco Park Vaccination Center had suffered from allergic reactions.
The 330,000 doses of Modern vaccine that are no longer available represent 10% of all vaccines received by the state so far, which is a blow to counties like Los Angeles that have been asking for more vaccine allocations to be in the demand day.
Los Angeles County opened five large-scale vaccination sites Tuesday: Six Flags Magic Mountain, Cal State Northridge, Pomona Fairplex, the LA County Education Office in Downey and the Forum in Inglewood. The sites will have the opportunity to vaccinate 4,000 people each day, depending on the availability of the vaccine.