Orange County prepares second mass vaccination site at Soka University and changes appointment system – Orange County Register

Orange County staff and volunteers are preparing for the opening of a mass vaccination center at Soka University in Aliso Viejo on Saturday.

He’s joining the first center the county opened last week at Disneyland, which runs around 3,000 appointments a day.

“Bring your umbrellas, expect the rain, if you are in a walker you need to take these things into account,” County spokeswoman Molly Nichelson said. Staff and volunteers will be on hand to assist visitors from the campus parking structure off Wood Canyon Drive to a nearby gymnasium where vaccinations will take place.

The county has enough vaccines and staff on site for a confident launch of the new Soka Super POD (distribution point) this weekend, spokeswoman Molly Nichelson said. Officials said they would not open new locations until volunteers and doses were available to make it worth it; five sites are finally expected.

But public health officials are tempering expectations and asking for patience after Othena’s dating system got off to a rough start among its target users: people 65 and older.

The Health Care Agency said this week that the nomination process has been “streamlined” to prevent users from constantly needing to refresh Othena on their computers and phones in the hopes of landing a niche.

For users who have completed their registration, Othena will send an email to eligible groups around 10 a.m. each day, notifying them that an appointment is available for them.

Dr Clayton Chau, director of the Health Care Agency and county health officer, said staff members consider a person’s risk of coronavirus when assigning appointments. Staff will also refer patients to the nearest super site, he said.

But if users don’t respond through Othena within a few hours, they’ll be put back into the virtual queue, Nichelson said.

“They really have to pay attention to these emails coming in,” she says.

The Health Care Agency has set up a hotline at 714-834-2000 to answer questions about Othena, vaccine appointments and other related issues during weekday office hours.

At this point, people who qualify for a vaccine and want an appointment can’t call to set up one, but can call for help signing up on Othena.

“We think it can make us more agile,” she said.

Chau advised elderly people having problems with Othena to seek help from their doctor or staff at a local elderly center.

And super sites aren’t the only option, Chau said. The Health Care Agency is also setting up smaller-scale “mobile” vaccination clinics, which are parachuted for a day to a few centers for the elderly and more are in preparation.

Meanwhile, the county is still balancing vaccines, staff, and volunteers to deliver doses to the arms of those most exposed and vulnerable to COVID-19 in an efficient and fair manner.

In a virtual town hall Thursday with MP Cottie Petrie-Norris, Chau said Orange County still does not have enough vaccines and reiterated the need to let older older people get vaccinated first , especially those with chronic illnesses that make the coronavirus more dangerous to them.

“We are asking the community to be patient, give the vaccine to those 75 and over and those 65 and over who have chronic problems,” he said. “Let’s protect them first, because they are the ones who, if they are infected, end up in hospitals more than others.”