According to Bloomberg’s vaccine tracker, California managed only 37.3% of its vaccine stock.
Locally, Riverside County residents are among those who express their frustrations at not being able to register for vaccine appointments on the county’s website.
“I’m not losing any sleep over this, but let’s put it this way, I’m tired of being stuck,” said Cynthia Edwards of Menifee, who says she is not only in the 65-year-old category, but is also a substitute teacher.
She said that whenever she tried to apply for vaccines on the Riverside County website, there were none available.
“I know people 20 years younger than us who seem to be understanding,” said Edwards. “I don’t know what’s going on here.”
“I called my own health care provider and they said they received 2,000 vaccines. They are running a lottery of algorithms to determine who, out of 10,000 patients, is most at risk of getting it.”
Riverside County officials acknowledged a flaw in their website that caused it to crash shortly after appointments were made on Thursday at noon. They say that while the flaw has been fixed, it is not entirely under their control.
“The website is a partnership in which part is through the county and the other part is through a state platform,” said Dr. Geoffrey Leung of the University of Riverside Health System. “The state platform is in the process of being updated”.
Leung said a pilot program is being tested by two other counties to see if improvements to the platform will be beneficial and increase the stability of the COVID-19 vaccine sites. But the biggest problem is not the website itself, but the limited supply of the vaccine.
“The main challenge we have with the vaccine now is supply,” said Leung. “If you look at the state of California, the total distribution so far is just enough to administer the vaccine to 5% of the population.”
Riverside County has announced an additional 10,000 vaccine appointments that will be available online at noon on Saturday. These bookings can be made on the county website here.
San Bernardino County residents can apply for vaccines on site here.
Copyright © 2021 KABC-TV. All rights reserved.