Santa Clara County officials warn about vaccine misinformation in unofficial texts



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Santa Clara County officials this week warned of unofficial texts urging residents to schedule vaccination appointments in the county.

The texts falsely claim an “extra” supply of vaccine and provide a link to register at one of the county’s vaccination sites.

As far as the county is aware, someone was able to access the link to the state’s immunization platform, CalVax, and texted that link to countless numbers of people.

“We know this because we have had a large number of people come to Berger. [vaccination site] who did not have an appointment and told us they could be put on the appointment list by having access to CalVax without going through our regular system, ”said Jeff Smith, County Manager.


Smith said a link is given to those who are eligible for vaccination only after they complete a statement that they meet the priority requirements.

Currently, that means people who are in phase 1A, which includes healthcare workers and residents and staff of long-term care facilities.

The county plans to switch to immunization of people in Phase 1B, Level 1 – those over 75 and older and other essential frontline workers.

The county is currently investigating the erroneous text messages. Smith said whoever sent it hadn’t hacked into the system and instead was able “inappropriately” to access the link.

Vaccination systems and county information are secure, Smith told the county watchdog on Tuesday.

To access more information on vaccines for Santa Clara County, people can visit sccfreevax.org.

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