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Orange County will wait at least two more weeks before offering COVID-19 vaccines to educators, food service workers and other newly eligible people in accordance with state guidelines, said Tuesday. Dr Clayton Chau, County Health Officer. February 9.
The extra time will help the county get through a waiting list of people 65 and older who have not yet been vaccinated, Chau told the Orange County Supervisory Board.
So far, around 100,000 seniors in Orange County, as well as most of the county’s health workers who wanted vaccines, have been vaccinated, Chau said – but these two groups together represent more than 700,000 people and vaccine stocks continue to be limited.
Chau said with the county only receiving about 37,000 doses a week from the state, inviting more people to compete with them would only breed more frustration.
“We have only vaccinated a quarter of them (the elderly) at best – I cannot open the door to more of them when we still have the same number of vaccines”, did he declare.
After launching the vaccination of healthcare workers in mid-December, Orange County was one of the first to offer vaccines to anyone 65 and over for about a month.
Chau followed the recommendation of the county vaccine task force and opened appointments for the elderly after seeing statistics from a dozen hospitals which showed that about three-quarters of people hospitalized with serious complications or dying from COVID-19 belonged to the older group.
The county’s vaccine task force, along with an ad hoc committee of supervisors, approved the decision to stay focused for the next two weeks on people 65 and older, especially the most vulnerable and in the parts county that have active hot spots of the virus, Chau said.
Statewide, Orange County is second behind Los Angeles County with the highest percentage of residents in the 65 and over age group, he said. Neighbor Long Beach was able to immunize its healthcare workers and a smaller elderly population and has now opened appointments for teachers, Chau said.
The Orange County health agency receives around 20% of the doses designated for the county (most go to major medical providers that serve multiple counties and drugstore chains), so Chau has to rely on third party and state for information on how the rest of the country. vaccines are used.
Supervisor Lisa Bartlett said the state’s vaccine database is filled with incomplete or inaccurate information, including missing zip codes of many residents who have been vaccinated, making it more difficult for officials to County health to determine where to target awareness and set up clinics.
“The state’s database is so flawed that it affects our second dose levels,” she said, adding that Los Angeles County this week had to halt new appointments to catch up. follow-up injections.
“Until we can get accurate postcode information, we won’t really know what’s going on in underserved areas,” she added.
Chau told supervisors that in addition to the University of Disneyland and Soka super sites and a mobile POD (distribution point) on weekends, the county health agency is working with community clinics. and non-profit organizations to vaccinate people in neighborhoods with high infection rates or who may have difficulty accessing the two large sites.
Authorities are planning vaccination sites in Santa Ana and Anaheim, which include neighborhoods with some of the highest infection rates in the county, and additional pods could arrive at Santa Ana College and Christ Cathedral in Garden Grove, a Chau said.
The Othena platform that the county has for people to sign up for vaccines and make appointments last week added support in Spanish and Tuesday added Vietnamese and “moves fast” to add Korean and Chinese, Chau said.
The county hotline, 714-834-2000, can help seniors who aren’t tech-savvy with the process.
“We have had staff able to speak Vietnamese and Spanish on the hotline,” Chau said, adding that county officials recognize this may not meet demand and are in the process of contracting with a center. calls and train its staff to increase the number of people. hotline can be used and in which languages.
Chau asked for residents’ patience as the county overcomes the challenges of vaccinating an estimated 3.1 million people with a limited supply, and he repeated the request on Tuesday, though he hopes the wait ends. sooner rather than later.
A Federal Food and Drug Administration group is expected to meet on February 26 to consider authorizing use of Johnson & Johnson’s new vaccine, which only requires one shot and would help alleviate the supply problem.
“If the FDA allows it, presumably the following Monday or Tuesday (March 1 or 2), we should receive our first shipment from Johnson & Johnson in Orange County,” Chau said.
“I can’t wait to be in a month when we have lots of vaccines… to offer to all of our citizens who want the vaccine.”
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