Severe shortages in the supply of COVID-19 vaccine will limit how many older residents of Los Angeles County get vaccinated in the coming days and weeks, public health officials said Tuesday.
Officials said residents ages 65 or older could begin scheduling appointments on Tuesday to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, but slots were limited to about 50,000 this week, largely due to a shortage of doses.
The decision to open the vaccine eligibility list to seniors was made to accelerate access to a population that has been disproportionately affected by the virus. But it will take time to vaccinate all 1.3 million residents in the age group, officials said.
“We do not have enough of the COVID-19 vaccine for everyone,” said L.A. County Board of Supervisors Chair Hilda Solis. “That includes all those 65 and older, but we will get there. Patience.”
Over the past few weeks, the county has followed the state’s protocol to vaccinate thousands of healthcare workers. But last week, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced that counties could start vaccinating seniors before finishing with healthcare workers. That was not initially part of L.A. County’s plan, and officials said they had to quickly build up an efficient vaccine distribution system amid surging caseloads.
Since March, nearly 100,000 L.A. County residents ages 65 or older have been infected with the coronavirus, and more than 30,000 of them were hospitalized. Of the 14,000 people who have died from COVID-19 in L.A. County, almost 10,000 were age 65 or older, the county said Tuesday.
To expand distribution capacity, the county on Tuesday opened five large-scale vaccination sites, with plans to inoculate 20,000 people daily.
The county has received 685,000 vaccine doses, and more than 70% of those had been administered by the end of last week, according to the Department of Public Health. The county will receive an additional 168,000 doses this week.
“We’re not yet sure about our allocation for next week, which will need to cover those healthcare workers that need their second doses, as well as everybody who’s ready for their first dose,” Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said at a media briefing Tuesday afternoon.
Ferrer estimates that L.A. County could run out of doses by early next week. “We just have to see how many doses we’re going to get for the following week,” she said.
Other counties across the state report similar supply problems. San Francisco’s public health department will run out of COVID-19 vaccine Thursday because the city’s allocation dropped substantially from a week ago, and doses that had to be discarded were not replaced.
The amount of vaccine coming from the federal government has fluctuated from week to week, which makes it challenging to plan how many appointments should be made available and adds to the public’s anxiety and frustration, Ferrer said.
Ferrer and Solis both said they’re optimistic that once the Biden administration takes over Wednesday, the county could see the flow of vaccine doses increase.
“It’s always hard when you’re operating in scarcity, but I do appreciate the need for us to be mindful of moving forward as quickly as we can to get those at high risk [vaccinated], and I think that’s what this strategy allows us to do,” Ferrer said.
Residents ages 65 or older can sign up for an appointment at the county public health department’s website, vaccinatelacounty.com. Residents without computer access can call (833) 540-0473 between 8 a.m. and 8:30 p.m. for assistance with reservations.
The City of Los Angeles is also offering the vaccine to anyone in Los Angeles County who is 65 or older, through a different online portal. That website connects patients to sites including Dodger Stadium, San Fernando Recreation Park, Lincoln Park, Hansen Dam and Crenshaw Christian Center.
Many who attempted to reach the county’s call center to book an appointment Tuesday afternoon reported that their calls dropped after the English and Spanish recorded prompts played. In addition, language on the county’s website noted that only healthcare workers could get vaccinated, further confusing residents.
“Our COVID-19 vaccination hotline and website are fielding thousands of calls and users, and experiencing technical difficulties,” the county said on Twitter about 4 p.m. Tuesday. “We appreciate your patience as we work to fix these technical issues.”
Orange County, where officials opened up vaccines to older residents last week, has also faced setbacks. High winds forced a two-day closure of the Disneyland vaccination site in Anaheim, and a batch of the Moderna vaccine given to more than 5,000 residents is undergoing investigation for possibly causing allergic reactions.
As of Monday, Orange County officials hadn’t received reports of any allergic reactions among those vaccinated from the batch.
Times staff writers Colleen Shalby, Lila Seidman, Maura Dolan and Maya Lau and Daily Pilot staff writer Sara Cardine contributed to this report.
January 20, 2021 at 05:15AM
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-01-19/covid-19-vaccine-shortages-hit-older-la-residents-hard
COVID-19 vaccine shortages hit older L.A. residents hard - Los Angeles Times
https://news.google.com/search?q=hard&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en
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