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UC San Diego Health began vaccinating older patients against COVID-19 on Thursday, marking the start of a new phase in the vaccine’s rollout in the region.
Members of the healthcare system aged 65 or older with health conditions that make them vulnerable to coronavirus are being contacted to make appointments, according to a UCSD statement.
“Patients are advised to wait for their immunization invitations to avoid overloading telephone lines and to accommodate ongoing services and care … Eligible patients will be contacted as soon as possible, depending on vaccine availability.
The plan is to start vaccinating 500 patients per day. And with demand exceeding supply, those doses will go to patients whose medical histories make them particularly vulnerable to COVID-19. The UCSD did not specify which pre-existing conditions would be considered, but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention notes that there is strong evidence that cancer and various forms of lung, kidney and heart disease increase the risk of hospitalization and death from COVID-19.
The region’s two largest systems – Scripps and Sharp – released statements Wednesday and Thursday, respectively, saying they did not yet have enough vaccines to start vaccinating patients. Kaiser Permanente released a similar statement Thursday, as did the San Diego Veterans Health System, which serves more than 86,000 veterans. A spokesperson for Alvarado Hospital Medical Center and Paradise Valley Hospital told the San Diego Union-Tribune that the two hospitals were also still focused on inoculating their frontline health workers.
And don’t expect to be able to drive to your CVS and Walgreens for a COVID-19 vaccine again. The country’s two largest retail pharmacy chains have yet to start scheduling and immunizing the general public, including the elderly, although they plan to do so.
For now, vaccine doses are still primarily intended for nursing home residents and healthcare workers in San Diego County, the state’s highest priority immunization group. About 620,000 residents fall into this category; So far, the area has received around 240,000 doses of the vaccine and vaccinated nearly 80,000 San Diegans, although county officials say that’s likely an underestimate.
Recent federal and state guidelines now mean that more than 473,000 San Diego County residents aged 65 and older are also eligible for the vaccine – assuming their health care provider has the doses. The county plans to continue focusing on vaccinating healthcare workers at its mass vaccination site near Petco Park until the week of January 25, according to public health official Dr Wilma Wooten.
The elderly are particularly vulnerable to the coronavirus. About 15% of San Diego County residents aged 80 and over who contracted COVID-19 have died – more than one in seven.
UCSD asks patients who wish to stay up-to-date with health system vaccine deployment to visit health.ucsd.edu/coronavirus/Pages/vaccine.aspx
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