All Californians 16 years of age or older will be eligible for COVID-19 vaccines beginning April 15, the state announced Thursday.
In addition, Santa Barbara County opened the requirements for all residents 50 years of age or older for public health-run mass vaccination clinics next week in Lompoc.
On April 1, next Thursday, more than 50 residents will be able to book appointments at any participating pharmacy, hospital, clinic or other vaccine provider.
“It will still take months to vaccinate all Californians who want to be vacant, but millions are vaccinated every week,” the state said in a statement.
“Our ability to do more has always been limited by supply, manufactured supply,” Governor Gavin Newsom said at a news conference Thursday. “We are confident that the manufactured supply will be available sooner than we had anticipated.”
Dr. Mark Ghaly, secretary of the California Agency for Human Services and Health, said the state also made the decision because of new coronavirus surges observed in other parts of the country and the world.
It’s “a variant vaccine race and we need to do it fast,” he said.
The state wants to remove barriers to access to vaccination, including documentation, so it decided to allow self-certification of people with medical illnesses, he said.
People in this category do not need any medical notes or other documents and can sign something that proves they have a high-risk medical condition that meets the requirements.
Santa Barbara County continues to vaccinate the group over the age of 65, ages 16 to 64, with high-risk medical illnesses, as well as essential workers, including health workers, educators and caregivers, health workers. food and agriculture and emergency service workers. The 50-year-old group is eligible for the county clinic Sunday through Saturday, and then next Thursday will be eligible for appointments at all vaccine providers.
Other counties, including San Luis Obispo County, have already extended eligibility to people over 50.
Appointments have been in high demand locally, which is why the county has not yet opened them to additional groups, according to public health officials.
The county has distributed 142,441 doses of vaccine as of Sunday and 11% of county residents are fully vaccinated.
April 1 is when Santa Barbara County officially enters the Blue Shield state system, which will centralize vaccination appointments through the MyTurn website at https://myturn.ca.gov/.
Currently, all pharmacies, hospitals, and clinics have a different registration platform, “so by the end of the month, MyTurn is the platform that the entire state of California will use to register or make an appointment for vaccination. Public Health Director Van Do-Reynoso said during a town hall meeting on Tuesday.
County Executive Councilor Mona Miyasato last week signed the memorandum of understanding with the system for the Blue Shield system, she added.
Some providers, including Cottage Hospital and Sansum Clinic, have already started using the system simultaneously with their independent registration systems.
County leaders have continually stated that they expect limited dose supply to increase, and weekly totals show higher distributions and distribution in recent weeks.
Asked why other counties have vaccinated more than 50 residents, while Santa Barbara County is still limited to more than 65 residents, Do-Reynoso said Tuesday:
“When a county has exhausted the number of people who are interested in getting vaccinated and have the same supply, they can make that policy change. So as long as the county can prove they’ve done their best, they’ve vaccinated everyone. who are eligible, over 65, comorbidities and all, and still have space, can reach the 50s.
“Unfortunately, we don’t have enough vaccines even though we see a significant and significant increase, we still have 65 and we still have 80 year olds who want a vaccine but haven’t gotten an appointment, and we have other priority groups that need a vaccine but, however, they have had the opportunity, so we want to follow state guidelines and make sure these priority groups are vaccinated first before they reach the 1950s. “
On Thursday, during an interview with KEYT, Van Do-Reynoso agreed that the process of checking several websites for vaccination appointments compared the process to getting a ticket to ‘Hamilton’ or a concert.
That is expected to change as supply increases and thousands of additional doses will be distributed at mass vaccination clinics starting Sunday, he said.
Appointments are available for the first clinic, in Lompoc, by calling the 2-1-1 call center from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily or by registering through the county website: https: // publichealthsbc. org / vaccine /
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