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The Orange County mass coronavirus vaccination site at Disneyland will close temporarily, due to inclement weather in the United States, what officials say local deliveries delayed by vaccine Provisions.
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As a result, county officials also expect delays in opening a new vaccination site at the Anaheim Convention Center, which was scheduled for February 24.
Officials say the county Soka University vaccination site, which primarily distributes Pfizer vaccine, will remain open to provide second-dose Pfizer vaccines, supply and availability permitting.
The Santa Ana College site will also temporarily close from February 20, and officials say the date of reopening will depend on receiving an additional supply of Pfizer vaccine, according to the county.
“Bad weather across the country has delayed delivery of COVID-19 vaccine supplies across the state of California, including Orange County,” read a county statement sent Thursday.
On Tuesday, a scheduled delivery of Moderna vaccines to the county did not arrive, officials said.
“As a result, the Moderna vaccine inventory is very low. State guidelines encourage the distribution of all vaccines as quickly as possible and do not allow a large inventory to be kept in reserve. “
The Disneyland Super POD site (distribution point) mainly administers the Moderna vaccine, so it will close until Monday February 22, “pending receipt of an additional supply on (February 22)”, reads the press release. county.
Officials say anyone who had scheduled appointments at the affected sites will receive a notification through Othena with information regarding rescheduled appointments.
On Thursday, the director of the Orange County health care agency, Dr Clayton Chau, gave the county’s elected supervisory board a private update on the matter.
The state guidelines “encourage vaccine suppliers, including county health departments, to distribute all vaccine supplies as quickly as possible and do not keep a large inventory on hand,” it reads. the note to council – obtained by Voice of OC – from Chau who is also the interim public health officer.
As of Wednesday evening, residents of internet chat platform Reddit posted notifications they had received, telling them that their appointments for the second dose at the Disneyland site had been postponed.
Voice of OC asked the county last night about the messages, which was not answered until the county’s statement was released on Thursday.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) say people who take the first dose of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine should receive their second dose after 3 weeks, and those who take the first dose of Moderna vaccine receive their second dose after a month . .
Although the CDC still considers second doses given within a “grace period” of 4 days before the recommended period to be “valid”.
And while vaccine delays are inevitable for people, the CDC says second doses of the vaccine can be given up to 6 weeks (42 days) after the first dose.
“If the second dose is administered beyond these intervals, there is no need to restart the series,” the CDC says on its website.
The number of people hospitalized with the virus continues to decline, now at 663 hospitalizations.
Meanwhile, deaths continue to rise, now standing at 3,685 since the start of the pandemic with 41 new deaths reported today.
To date, there have been 243,665 confirmed cases.
For context, Orange County has recorded an average of around 20,000 deaths from other causes per year since 2016, including 543 annual flu deaths, according to state health data.
According to state mortality statistics, cancer kills more than 4,600 people, heart disease kills more than 2,800, more than 1,400 die of Alzheimer’s disease, and strokes kill more than 1,300 people.
Orange County has already surpassed its annual average of 20,000 deaths, with 23,883 deaths in December, according to the state’s latest available data.
Coronavirus deaths, meanwhile, have now overtaken the flu, heart disease, Alzheimer’s disease and stroke as the cause of death in Orange County. Currently, cancer alone has killed more residents on an annual basis than the virus.
Brandon Pho is a Voice of OC reporter and a member of the Corps of Report for America, an initiative of GroundTruth. Contact him at [email protected] or on Twitter @photherecord.
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