Bay Area Residents 50+ Join the Hunt for Life-Saving Vaccines



[ad_1]

Without fanfare or festive music, nearly 6 million more Californians became eligible for coronavirus vaccinations on Thursday when the state opened the door to people aged 50 to 64 – and the first thing many did was to look for an appointment.

“I had one in Oakland on Saturday, May 1,” wrote Tina Valentine, 57, of San Francisco, who kept switching views during her line dancing class to try and get her feet wet. register, before finally landing her date with Kaiser. “I booked it but I will still try sooner if I can!” But at least I have a date! I feel relieved! “

Yet many have discovered what Bay Area health officials have warned for days: Demand for COVID protection still exceeds available doses and appointments are hard to come by. Many of these vaccine hunters have learned that some counties and clinics allow 50-64 year olds to register earlier in the week for appointments that began Thursday.. California has 7.2 million people aged 50 to 64, and nearly 6 million of them still need one or both injections.

“It seems like this is a funny April Fool’s joke,” said Scott Steinberg, 56, a retired technical employee in San Francisco who at 8 a.m. started checking all pharmacies and drugstores. vaccination that he could think of to make an appointment for him and his wife. He refreshed the sites all morning, concluding, “It looks pretty dark right now.”

Yet many persistent vaccine seekers have hit the jackpot, either Thursday or the previous few days, finding appointments near or far from home, on dates in a few days or weeks. Others, like Valentine, made it a game of chase, betting friends on who could find a date – and the best date and place – the fastest.

“We’re just thrilled, so happy. Glad it’s behind us, ”said Jennifer Miller of Mountain View, 50, after being shot Thursday morning. She and her husband, Adin Miller, 51, were ready to drive to Stockton for photos, but managed to land slots in Mountain View after a friend texted her on Tuesday to call immediately Santa Clara County for a date.

The couple waited over half an hour at the Mountain View Community Center in a queue that swelled to what looked like 500 people snaking around the building and in a park at the time of their departure.

Building on his success, Miller shared his advice in a 20,000-person Facebook group called Bay Area Vaccine Hunters, and received 113 comments and many thanks from others his age who were also successful in scheduling appointments. -you.

Opening day for immunizing people as young as 50 against the coronavirus, which has killed nearly 59,000 people in California and nearly 10 times more across the country, took place as counties in the region of The Bay had warned that they still had too little vaccine to accommodate all eligible people, despite expected increases in supply.

Santa Clara County is set to receive 24% more doses next week – 71,900, up from around 58,000. “However, that is still not enough,” Dr Marty Fenstersheib, the county’s vaccine coordinator, said at a press briefing Thursday. With 370,000 county residents in the newly eligible age group, and most of them unvaccinated, “this adds a lot of people for whom we don’t have a vaccine at the moment,” he said. declared.

“So folks, everyone be patient.”

Contra Costa County reported this week that 30,000 people went online to request appointments when the county said Tuesday that all residents 16 and older are now eligible for vaccines. County officials said it would take days before they could respond to all requests.

Kaiser announced this week that “demand will continue to outstrip supply” for weeks to come, especially when 16-year-olds become eligible statewide on April 15. Sonoma County officials have written to the state asking for more vaccine. And the UCSF mass vaccination site at City College in San Francisco remained closed Thursday for lack of doses.

Yet anecdotally, at least, Thursday’s rollout looked smooth as thousands of stubborn people spent enough time online to land a valuable date. To earn a spot on the Oakland Coliseum site, it took perseverance after the frustration of a repeated “no date” message. This was also the case with the UCSF site, where some Friday appointments were available through myturn.ca.gov, the California dating site.

Among the newly eligible was California’s top 53-year-old Governor Gavin Newsom, who sat down for a single injection of Johnson & Johnson in his arm administered by Secretary of State for Health Dr Mark Ghaly in a vaccination clinic in Los Angeles.

Newsom called it “an important day, obviously, with the opportunity now for people my age, who were expecting.”

On Thursday morning, a diverse crowd raced down Armstrong Avenue at the Southeast Health Center in San Francisco’s Bayview neighborhood to await their shots. About 70% had made appointments and 30% were walk-in, SF health officials said.

“It’s just an amazing feeling,” said David Johns, 60, smiling behind his mask as he waited in a tent after receiving his first injection of a two-dose regimen. He said his twin sister made an appointment because, like many people, he had difficulty navigating the computer system.

[ad_2]

Source link