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

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

He joins the first center the county opened last week at Disneyland, which receives about 3,000 consultations a day.

“Bring your umbrellas, plan the rain; if you walk a walker, you need to take these things into account, ”said county spokeswoman Molly Nichelson. Staff and volunteers will be on hand to assist visitors from the campus parking structure on Wood Canyon Drive to a nearby gym, where vaccines will be administered.

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

But public health officials are moderating expectations and asking for patience after Othena’s consultation system got off to a rough start among its target users: the elderly aged 65 and over.

The Health Care Agency said this week that the nomination process was “streamlined” to prevent users from constantly having to update Othena on their computers and phones in hopes of getting a place.

For users who have completed registration, Othena will send an email to qualified groups at around 10 am every day, alerting them that a meeting is available to them.

Dr. Clayton Chau, director of the Health Agency and a county health officer, said team members are considering a person’s risk of coronavirus while making appointments. The team will also send patients to any nearest super site, he said.

But if users do not respond via Othena within hours, they will be put back in the virtual queue, said Nichelson.

“They really need to pay attention to incoming emails,” she said.

The Health Care Agency created a hotline at 714-834-2000 to answer questions about Othena, vaccine appointments and other related questions during business hours during the week.

At this point, people who qualify for a vaccine and want an appointment cannot call to make an appointment, but can ask for help in registering with Othena.

“We believe it will be able to make us more agile,” she said.

Chau advised elderly people with problems with Othena to ask their doctor or staff at a local senior center for help.

And super sites are not the only option, Chau said. The Health Care Agency is also building smaller-scale “mobile” vaccination clinics, which have already parachuted for a day in some older centers with more under construction.

In the meantime, the county is still finding a balance between packaging vaccines, staff and volunteers to put doses in the arms of the county’s most exposed and vulnerable to COVID-19 efficiently and fairly.

During a meeting at the virtual city hall on Thursday with Congresswoman Cottie Petrie-Norris, Chau said that Orange County does not yet have enough vaccines and repeated the need to allow older seniors to get their vaccines first, especially those with chronic health conditions. that make the coronavirus more dangerous for them.

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