The change is being made for people who received the first dose of the Pfizer vaccine and need the second after 21 days, Manuel Martinez told 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 has been completely vaccinated and that, for now, it will be difficult to reach appointments for the first doses.
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At the county’s seven large-scale vaccination sites, a limited number of first doses will be given Monday, with the rest of the week’s appointments reserved only for people who need their second dose of medication, according to Dr. Paul. Simon, head of science at the county health department. To make an appointment, you must also provide documentation.
The county is currently in Phase 1B vaccine eligibility, which includes people 65 and older, and the next group consists of educators, teachers, child care workers, food workers, and of agriculture and people involved in emergencies.
“A lot of people want to get vaccinated. This place here can easily accommodate 4,000 vaccinated people a day, really 4,000 cars, and we just don’t have vaccines. Today we were only able to release 1,100 appointments,” said Barbara Ferrer, county public health director. of Los Angeles.
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Simon said that while only seven county vaccine locations will administer the second doses exclusively this week, residents may have problems elsewhere as all providers deal with short vaccine supplies.
“Unfortunately, the biggest problem we continue to consider in our ability to vaccinate is the shortage of supply and the variability in the amount of vaccine we receive weekly,” Simon said. “This has been a problem across the country and makes planning a challenge.”
According to Simon, the latest figures indicate that more than 1.05 million doses of vaccine have been administered in the county so far, including just over 104,000 seconds. This means that 2.6% of the population aged 16 and over in the county population has been fully vaccinated so far. About 11% of the population aged 16 and over has received at least one dose.
The slow progress of the vaccination program has led some residents to be creative in finding ways to manipulate the appointment system to access the shots.
Some people who do not yet meet the requirements to receive the vaccine have been slow to persist at vaccination sites with the likelihood of dose remnants at the end of the day being administered to avoid wasting them. Ferrer said this week there have been issues with people claiming to be carers of disabled children and presenting themselves at vaccination sites with a generic, photocopied letter identifying them as such.
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Simon outlined another way some people have tried to jump the line to get vaccines. According to Simon, people who received emails from the county about scheduling an appointment for a second dose of the vaccine have shared the unique web link included in the emails with friends. Those people “then schedule an appointment with the first dose even though they are not eligible to be vaccinated at this time.”
“It’s important for people to understand that these actions eliminate access to vaccination for high-risk people who are eligible for the vaccine right now,” Simon said. “When we identify these appointments, they are being 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 shared appointments will be rejected.”
He said he had no figures on how many people have tried to jump the line that way, but “it happened enough for us to notice it very clearly.”
Simon said the county was trying to figure out a way to modify the computer system to prevent those appointments from being made.
City News Service contributed to this report.
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