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In case you missed it, the state of California now allows people 65 years of age and over to be vaccinated against COVID-19.
But in Los Angeles County, health officials say they aren’t ready to vaccinate people in this age group until February at the earliest (they just don’t have enough vaccine). Meanwhile, Long Beach, along with Orange, San Bernardino and Riverside counties are advancing with the 65 and over age group … but not without obstacles.
Of course, none of this is simple. It never is. We are dealing with massive bureaucracy on top of the undernourished and exhausted public health services, which are already struggling to cope with both the unprecedented pandemic and the surge in cases.
For clarity, we have contacted each city / county for more details.
NOTE: This is a living story and will be updated as more information becomes available.
LOS ANGELES COUNTY
I repeat: LA County will not be immunizing people 65 and over until February at the earliest. The department still focuses on healthcare workers.
In the meantime, however, Dr Paul Simon of the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health said the county will use several different channels to make sure citizens are aware of their turn:
“Of course, we will work with the media to get the message across. But in addition, [we’ll be] work with health care providers, who will then contact their patients in this age group. We will be working with various organizations like AARP and others. And we have a newsletter that anyone can sign up for on our website. So we’re going to use all of these channels to try to get the word out. “
This website is VaccinateLACounty.com. Yesou put your email address in the gray box on the left side of the screen. When you sign up, you will be updated via the newsletter on which groups are currently eligible to receive the vaccine.
LONG BEACH
Long Beach residents 65 and older can start receiving the COVID-19 vaccine as early as Saturday, January 16.
Appointments for the first distribution clinic this weekend are already full, so city officials say seniors should contact their health care providers first or make a future appointment by email. . [email protected] or by calling 562-570-INFO.
Anyone with an appointment will need to bring a pay stub or employee ID to prove they are a healthcare worker or first responder, or ID showing they are 65 years or older and lives in Long Beach.
“If they don’t have the proof that we ask for, then we ask them to move on”, Kelly Colopy, the city’s director of health and social services, told our newsroom: “and so we have turned down a lot of people who come from out of town, or who are in levels that are not yet served.”
On Tuesday, January 19, Long Beach will begin vaccinating food service and grocery store workers.
Also next week, the city is launching an online portal called Vax LB where residents can enter their information and be notified when it’s their turn to get vaccinated.
To date, Long Beach has immunized 15,000 healthcare workers and nursing home residents. He plans to start administering the vaccine to the general public in early summer.
Tests can be scheduled online or by calling the City’s information line, 562.570.INFO (4636), between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. on weekdays. Appointments are mandatory and can be made up to three days in advance.
RIVERSIDE COUNTY
Riverside County began administering the COVID-19 vaccine to residents 65 and older Thursday, January 14, in addition to frontline, essential workers in education, law enforcement and agriculture.
Brooke Federico, public information officer for Riverside County, says residents will need to prove they are eligible for the vaccine with “Proof of employment by means of a pay stub, work identity card or work badge, or proof of employment letter from your employer” if you receive the vaccine because of your work.
If you are 65 and over, you will need an ID to validate your age and show that you live in Riverside County.
Appointments are required. You can create them on the county health website, ruhealth.org. The website also contains a list of pharmacies and emergency care centers that provide the vaccine.
Note, however, that the slots at county clinics filled up within hours on Wednesday, January 13, so there will likely be an initial tech hiccup..
Health officials say residents should check with their health care providers, if they have one, before signing up for county vacation sites.
The county is also working on adding a notification feature to its website, to alert people when other dates open.
ORANGE COUNTY
Orange County has decided to adopt the state suggestion expand vaccine distribution to the 65 and over age group Wednesday 13 Jan As soon as officials made the announcement, more than 10,000 people made appointments in less than two hours.
All that traffic has overloaded the application and the website of Othena, which manages the appointments.
Orange County Board Chairman Andrew Do acknowledged the issues and asked people to be patient:
“We are working technically to increase the bandwidth to get people to at least let them know that we have them in the system. And then, if necessary, we can send out notifications for people who qualify. . “
He added that people eligible to get vaccinated should first contact their health care provider to see how they can get vaccinated through their health network, rather than through a public site.
Currently, if you are visiting the county Othena.com site, you must answer “yes” or “no” to “Do you live or work in Orange County?” and “Are you 65 or over?”
If you click Yes for both, you will receive a message saying “You are eligible to be vaccinated”, then you register with your name, date of birth, race / ethnicity, employer, email address and phone number. Then you receive this message:
We have contacted the Orange County Department of Health for more information and have yet to hear back.
SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY
Officials announced Thursday, January 14, that all residents of San Bernardino County aged 65 and over are now eligible to receive the vaccine.
“We ask the community to be patient as we continue to receive doses from the State of California to serve our elderly population and as we continue to immunize healthcare workers,” said the chairman of the board of surveillance, Curt Hagman, in a statement.
At the same time, county officials say vaccine doses are currently scarce.
“The county will do everything possible to lobby the state for the necessary doses to quickly provide immunizations to every senior in San Bernardino County who wants and needs protection,” a spokesperson said. .
For now, they are making appointments.
County residents 65 and older can book appointments through sbcovid19.com/vaccine.
Seniors can also sign up to receive email and SMS notifications to receive alerts about immunization opportunities and other immunization information via the link “Sign up for vaccine notifications for 65 and over. more »at the address sbcovid19.com/vaccineThose who need help with appointments or signing up for notifications can call the COVID-19 hotline from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday at (909) 387-3911.
Monica Bushman, Megan Ngyugen, Fiona Ng and Gina Pollack contributed to this story.
Monica Bushman, Megan Ngyugen, Fiona Ng and Gina Pollack contributed to this story.
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