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The rollout of the coronavirus vaccine to people 65 and older in California has been marred by confusion, with some counties advancing faster than others.
Some counties are starting to offer the vaccine to older residents. But others, including Los Angeles County, say they need to finish beating first responders and medical workers first.
In Northern California, some counties start with offering vaccines to people 75 and older and then move on to people 65 and older.
Here are some details:
Los Angeles County
According to the LA County Department of Public Health, the county is still in Phase 1A vaccine deployment, which means that only qualified healthcare workers and residents of nursing and long-term care facilities are eligible to receive the vaccine.
The department said the county was working to provide an additional 500,000 doses to people in the Phase 1A group by the end of the month, and hoped to move to Phase 1B – people 65 and older – earlier this month. from February.
County health units have been bombarded with phone calls from residents baffled by mixed messages from state and local authorities. Gov. Gavin Newsom, in an ad Wednesday, said people 65 and older could get vaccinated, but local health officials followed up with public statements shortly after saying otherwise.
The county estimates that everyone in Phase 1B will be offered at least one dose of the vaccine by the end of March.
Phase 1C, which includes people aged 50 to 64 and people aged 16 to 49 with underlying health conditions or who have certain essential jobs, is expected to begin in March. Everyone in this phase should receive at least one dose in early May.
Phase 2, which includes all people aged 16 to 49, is expected to start in mid-May or early June.
In the city of Long Beach, which has its own public health department, officials said they would start offering vaccinations to people over 65 from Saturday.
Orange County
As Orange County residents 65 and older furiously schedule appointments to receive COVID-19 vaccinations at a new distribution center that opened at Disneyland in Anaheim on Wednesday, plans are already underway to put online additional distribution centers.
Authorities have yet to stop at the locations of these vaccination centers, called super PODs (distribution points), but Costa Mesa Mayor Katrina Foley suggested in a statement. virtual town hall on Facebook Thursday that the Orange County Fairgrounds could be part of it.
“I know the cat is already out of the bag that we’re going to eventually have a site at the fairgrounds,” Foley said in the forum, where she and congregation Cottie Petrie-Norris (D-Laguna Beach) did the update on the county’s COVID-19 response.
Working with the Orange County Fire Authority, officials from the Orange County Health Care Agency have established an incident management team to help oversee COVID-19 vaccine administration and distribution points across the country. county.
Operation Independence seeks to vaccinate the majority of people in Orange County by July 4.
Fire Department Chief Mike Pietro, who is leading the operation alongside Health Care Agency Deputy Director Margaret Bredehoft, confirmed to a press conference wednesday that in addition to the Disneyland site, four other distribution centers were planned throughout Orange County.
“As these site agreements are finalized, staff are insured and we get more vaccines, these super POD sites will go live,” Pietro said, declining to say when they might be up and running. .
San Diego County
San Diego County health systems face an overwhelming demand for the vaccine.
UC San Diego Health began vaccinating older patients on Thursday, entering a new phase in the vaccine rollout in the region. Members of the health care system aged 65 and over are being contacted to make appointments, according to a UCSD statement.
“Patients are urged 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.”
UCSD plans to start vaccinating 500 patients per day. These doses will primarily go to patients whose medical history makes them particularly vulnerable to COVID-19. The UCSD did not specify which pre-existing conditions would be taken into account, but Centers for Disaster 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.
Diabetes, high blood pressure and obesity are also risk factors, according to Dr. Davey Smith, director of infectious diseases at UCSD. Age too. About 15% of San Diego County residents aged 80 and over who contracted COVID-19 have died – more than one in seven.
The US Department of Veterans Affairs San Diego Health System, which serves more than 86,000 veterans, began vaccinating patients on Wednesday, according to a spokesperson. The San Diego VA starts with patients 85 years of age and older until it receives more doses.
Availability of vaccines remains a major issue for most local health systems. The county’s two largest systems – Scripps and Sharp – along with Kaiser Permanente, Alvarado Hospital Medical Center and Paradise Valley Hospital say they currently do not have enough vaccines to immunize patients.
The country’s two largest retail drugstore chains, CVS and Walgreens, have yet to begin immunizing older Californians, except those in nursing homes. But the Ralphs grocery chain, which has 77 pharmacies in Southern California, started this week; San Diegans 65 and over can plan online appointment at their nearest location.
If you don’t see an option to sign up, it’s because the slots are filling up quickly, according to a spokesperson for Ralphs, who added that the company’s website started crashing on Wednesday night. due to increased traffic.
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. At this point, Wooten says, people 65 and older will be able to get vaccinated at county vaccination sites. Essential workers such as teachers, police officers and grocery store workers could follow in February. The county plans to launch an online system next week for people who want to receive alerts on when and where they can get the vaccine.
Other counties in Southern California
Riverside County has opened up vaccines to residents 65 and older, according to their public health department.
San Bernardino, Ventura, Bishop of San Luis and Santa barbara Counties continue to prioritize health care workers in Phase 1A.
Next phases
Some of those who would be leading the way in phases as indicated by the State:
Phase 1B
- People at risk of exposure at work in the following sectors: education, childcare, emergency services, food and agriculture
- People at risk of exposure at work in the following sectors: transport and logistics; industrial, commercial, residential and accommodation facilities and services; critical manufacturing
- Bring together environments at risk of epidemics, such as incarcerated people and the homeless
Phase 1C
- Individuals aged 50 to 64
- People aged 16 to 49 who have an underlying health condition or disability that increases their risk of severe COVID-19
- People at risk of exposure at work in the following sectors: water and wastewater; defense; energy; chemical and hazardous materials; communications and computing; financial services; government operations and community core functions
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