LA County Supervisor Commits Public Health to Open COVID-19 Vaccine Appointments to Senior Residents – CBS Los Angeles

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LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) – Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors Hilda L. Solis signed an executive order Monday ordering the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health to make 65-year-olds available to residents or more COVID-19 vaccine appointments starting Thursday.

“Over the past few weeks, Los Angeles County has been administering the vaccine to front-line health workers, so they can stay safe while performing the important task of saving lives, and to residents and staff of skilled nursing and care centers. long-term facilities, “Solis said in an email statement. “The deployment of the COVID-19 vaccine has been a huge undertaking, especially during an unprecedented wave in which cases, hospitalizations and deaths continue to skyrocket.

“However, if we want to get out of this dark winter, it is critical that we advance vaccination of people 65 and older as soon as possible, in line with Governor Gavin Newsom’s recommendations,” the statement continued.

RELATED: LA County Reports 9,927 new COVID-19 cases, 88 deaths

Solis said he was giving the health department until Thursday to start opening appointments for those over 65 until Thursday so they could “properly prepare for deployment.

But hours earlier, Dr. Jeffrey Gunzenhauser, the county’s chief medical officer, said the county was not yet at a point to advance vaccination of the elderly.

“If we see at the end of the week that the rate of increase by health workers is going down, which suggests we need to move to phase 1B, especially at level 1 for the elderly, we will make that call fairly quickly, “He said.

The move comes as Cedars-Sinai researchers announced that a new local strain, called Cal.20C, could contribute to the increase and has been found in more than a third of COVID-19 cases in Los Angeles. .

Gunzenhauser said the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health has been seeing this and several other mutations, including one first detected in the UK.

“We’re concerned that if this does, you know, it shows up and causes a lot of transmission, we could see a big wave in February or March,” he said.

Public Health has not yet released a statement on the executive order, which can be viewed online, but previously said it was delaying the deployment of senior residents who mentioned vaccine shortages as it worked to get the first inoculation of the vaccines. health and front-line workers.

The department will host a virtual town hall on Wednesday with COVID-19 vaccine.

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