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Southern California public health officials are making a big push this week to speed up COVID-19 vaccinations and make needed vaccines more widely available quickly.
To counter the slow pace of vaccinations in the region, officials in Los Angeles, Riverside and Orange counties are setting up “supersites” or “superpods” – large, well-known sites such as Disneyland and Dodger Stadium – where mass vaccinations can take place, some as early as this week. In addition to the slow vaccine distribution, Southern Californians have also taken to social media to voice their frustrations with the lack of information on how, when and where to get vaccinated.
Supersites to speed up vaccinations
Riverside County on Tuesday formed an incident management team that will work to create several supersites that will give them the ability to administer the COVID-19 vaccine to “thousands of people instead of hundreds of people.” Riverside, Los Angeles, and San Bernardino counties are only open to health workers and patients in long-term care facilities. Orange County health officials announced on Tuesday that any county resident 65 and older is now eligible to receive a COVID-19 vaccine.
Spreading this information, just like getting vaccines into people’s arms, has been a challenge, said Jose Arballo Jr., spokesperson for the Riverside County Department of Public Health. Right now, the only way people can stay in the know is to keep an eye on the health department’s website and research the information, he said. The ministry strives to convey this communication to community partners such as nonprofits, businesses, homeowners associations and other groups, who have the ability to disseminate information to a larger group of people. .
Arballo said the biggest challenge early on was reluctance to get vaccinated, but now he’s meeting demand.
“We have hundreds of people on the waiting list,” he said. “We are working to recruit people who have the right qualifications. We’re looking for nursing students, paramedics, and other students we can train who could then equip these superpods.
Meeting the overwhelming demand
It would also help if those outside of the current qualifying levels refrain from making appointments or going to venues, Arballo said.
“It takes up space and time away from the people who should be getting the vaccines right now, and also slows down the process,” he said.
In Los Angeles County, health officials plan to open five supersites to speed up vaccinations for health workers. Officials predict that the expansion will allow them to perform an additional 500,000 vaccinations among health workers by the end of January. Los Angeles County plans to start vaccinations for people 65 and older in early February and for people 50 and older as well as younger people with underlying health conditions at the end of the month. Of March. These levels will also include essential workers.
Health officials face the challenge of finding a system that can efficiently and quickly deliver the vaccine to as many people as possible, said Dr Clayton Chau, Orange County health official and director of the county health agency.
“The infrastructure to deliver the vaccines is the same as that of those responsible for caring for the sick – the health care system,” he said, adding that the super sites will be able to provide this. infrastructure essential to achieve immunization goals.
County health officials have been inundated with calls asking when they can get the vaccine, but Chau thinks “it’s a good headache for us” because it means more people are ready to receive the vaccine. vaccine, which will ultimately help achieve collective immunity and reopen the economy.
San Bernardino County had no announcements regarding the supersites on Tuesday. But spokesman David Wert said the county was happy with its progress so far. He said the county received 75,900 initial doses, including 38,770, calling it a “very respectable report.” The county received an additional 43,625 vaccines for the second doses, he said.
Wert said they had not encountered any noticeable problems with vaccine distribution, but the county vaccination team “was discussing various strategies.”
County residents can call the COVID hotline at 909-387-3911 or visit sbcovid19.com for more information, including details on vaccination sites and how to register.
Frustrations with the system
But getting basic information on how, when and where to get vaccinated has been frustrating for many. Teri Pearlstein, 66, of Laguna Beach, said she was unsure of where to register or who to contact for information.
“We need ads on TV, signs on highways and in communities telling us what to do in simple English,” she said. “I would drive to Long Beach if I can get the shot now, but I don’t know if I can even do it. It is more than frustrating.
Even those who were able to get vaccinated talk about registration problems and having to wait hours to get vaccinated. Sav Ridley, a resident of Huntington Beach, said her elderly parents had to wait three hours and 20 minutes to be vaccinated at a local vaccination site. It even took her five days to get those appointments, she said.
Once inside, her parents had to wait in smaller rooms with around 40 other people, which she says raises concerns about infections.
“My dad said he felt safer standing in line than when he was inside,” Ridley said, adding that a “drive-up” system would be a lot safer, especially on supersites, which are probably more crowded.
Orange County health officials urged residents to register with the Othena vaccine and test management app, but complaints mounted on social media that the app was not working and that they still had trouble making appointments. It seems like the only recommended way to schedule dates right now. Only those who have appointments can get vaccinated at the supersites, health officials said.
A logistical challenge
Public health officials are scrambling to set up the logistics because while billions of dollars have been allocated to develop the vaccine, only a few hundred million have been distributed to the country’s health services, which simply was not insufficient to prepare the vaccine distribution infrastructure. said Shira Shafir, associate professor of epidemiology at UCLA’s Fielding School of Public Health.
“Health services have been overwhelmed,” she said.
But Shafir said it was promising to see larger health departments announce plans for supersites to help speed up the process.
“It’s places like Disneyland that people know about and there are clear ways to get people in and out,” she said. “Once the health services understand their operations and increase their capacity, we will start to see things improve.”
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