[ad_1]
In an effort to deliver the vaccine to those most at risk for complications from the coronavirus, San Diego County has now approved all residents 75 and over for vaccinations.
Officials said the move was also prompted by a slowdown in COVID-19 vaccination sites.
“We took this step today to add people aged 75 and over because they are at the greatest risk,” said Dr. Wilma J. Wooten, San Diego County Public Health Officer.
In an effort to deliver the vaccine to those most at risk for complications from the coronavirus, San Diego County has now approved all residents 75 and older for vaccination, reports Melissa Adan of NBC 7
San Diegans who want the photo can now book an appointment at the Petco Park supersite and other locations across the county where the photo is taken, officials said.
While the county last week approved medical sites to begin vaccinating people 65 and older following a recommendation from the Centers for Disease Control, so far the county itself has not expanded the pool beyond level 1A which is mainly residents of assisted care and health facilities. caregivers.
Some between the ages of 65 and 75 were vaccinated Monday at the “super station” in downtown San Diego, but a representative from UC San Diego Health, which operates the downtown site, said availability was only open to the age group for one day due to low appointment volume.
So far, only UC San Diego Health and Scripps Health have extended network vaccination to patients 65 years of age and older.
Scripps said it was using the remaining vaccine stocks from its original batch allocated to its own health workers, and said it had not received any additional vaccines from the government to use on the population 65 and older.
California health officials recommend a break in the distribution of a certain batch of Moderna coronavirus vaccine after it caused a severe allergic reaction in a small number of people, including some who received the vaccine in the San Diego Petco Park Super Station Vaccination. Nicole Gomez reports.
Officials stressed that appointments are required at county sites and anyone arriving without an appointment would be refused.
The county also received help from paramedics and paramedics from Cal Fire who administered vaccines at skilled nursing facilities.
Starting next week, anyone 65 and over will be able to get the vaccine, Wooten said in a press release Monday.
“We still intend to extend vaccines to people 65 and over the week of January 25, depending on vaccine availability.”
Meanwhile, at UC San Diego Health, officials are concerned about the overflow of phone lines and urge patients not to call healthcare providers directly and instead ask them to wait to be contacted.
San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria wants to speed up the coronavirus vaccination process. He has partnered with about three dozen mayors across the country to send a letter to President-elect Joe Biden asking that vaccines be delivered directly to cities instead of doses first sent to the state and then distributed. to counties. NBC’s Audra Stafford Reports 7.
Patients at severe risk of COVID-19 infection and with co-morbidities are prioritized by UCSD, officials said. Those who are eligible “will receive a direct invitation to be vaccinated via their electronic medical record or a direct call from their health care provider.”
Last Wednesday, state public health officials followed CDC guidelines by announcing that people 65 and older could now get the vaccine, joining the already eligible next tier of emergency workers, d ‘teachers, childcare providers, and food and agricultural workers grouped together at level 1B. The decision puzzled some officials, who said they didn’t even have enough doses to vaccinate those in Level 1A.
San Diego has approximately 620,000 healthcare workers and residents of Level 1A long-term care facilities. Making people 65 and over eligible for the vaccine adds another 500,000 people to the mix.
“It’s great that the state is saying, ‘Hey, people 65 and over are eligible to get the vaccine,’ but it does require counties to actually have the vaccines,” County Supervisor Nathan Fletcher said. .
California received more than 2.4 million doses of the vaccine last Monday, but only a third had been injected. Local governments have set up mass vaccine distribution sites in hopes of convincing state and federal authorities to send them more doses. San Diego opened a so-called super center last week in the Tailgate Park parking lot outside Petco Park, where thousands of people have been photographed. Officials hope to increase to 5,000 vaccinations per day at this location. On Saturday, 4,345 people were shot there, authorities said.
People with appointments at Tailgate Park were greeted with long queues, whether on foot or in a vehicle – in fact, in the late afternoon the queues roamed the city streets to a nearby highway. And NBC 7 spoke with one person online who was actually 66, who said that despite their age, they had been checked in and needed to be vaccinated.
The governor’s announcement that people 65 and older were eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine gave half a million San Diegans hope they could get it. NBC 7’s Bridget Naso has more details.
[ad_2]
Source link