On a cold, rainy Saturday morning, some light broke out in Orange County’s battle with the deadly coronavirus pandemic.
The county opened its second Super Point-of-Dispensing, or POD, vaccination site at Soka University in Aliso Viejo.
With 1,500 doses of the Pfizer vaccine in hand, inoculations began. Over time, the authorities hope to increase the delivery of 3,000 to 4,000 doses per day to the site, seven days a week, as long as supplies are available.
Currently, the county has about 66,000 doses of the vaccine, which are being delivered in super PODs and smaller mobile sites. Disneyland was the first major site to open.
The county receives only about 20% of the overall supply assigned to Orange County, with the remainder going to hospitals and private healthcare providers. And officials said supplies from the state and federal governments took longer to arrive than anticipated.
Since the Disneyland website began dispensing vaccines on January 13, more than 21,000 doses have been distributed – the recent windstorm interrupted the operation for two days.
However, even if it was in full swing with adequate supplies, the county would still have a long way to go to meet demand. According to Dr. Clayton Chau, director of the Orange County Health Agency, Orange County has more than 600,000 residents currently eligible, which includes people aged 65 and over and health and emergency professionals.
The county is considering opening up to three more Super PODs across the county, since it is getting enough vaccines to keep them running.
South County Need
Supervisor Lisa Bartlett, whose fifth district on the Orange County Board of Supervisors includes the Soka campus, said having a large site in the southern part of the county is crucial, with more than 140,000 seniors in the district, including the large community of elderly people near Laguna Woods.
“It is absolutely critical to vaccinate the most vulnerable,” she said.
With a large number of volunteers available, Bartlett said the county has “bandwidth” to meet demand quickly, but adds: “we can only use the vaccine available. Each dose is being injected into the arms as soon as possible. “
Aliso Viejo’s mayor, Tiffany Ackley, said she has a personal interest in her city hosting a large piece of land. She has first hand experience with the virus.
“My mom had COVID twice,” she said of Ann Keith, 77, who had to be hospitalized and ventilated twice before recovering. “I had to stay outside without knowing what was going on.”
For that reason, she said she is particularly pleased to have the Soka University website now in operation.
County officials set July 4 as a target date to end vaccination for 3.2 million CO residents.
Smooth navigation on day 1
Celia Lugo, 65, and her daughter, Lauren, left the gym at Soka University between showers.
“Wow, we did it,” said Lauren Lugo, stopping to take a selfie with her mother.
Laguna Niguel residents were grateful to have the place open so close to their home.
“Everything went well,” said Celia Lugo. “I expected it to be worse.”
Despite reports of failures in the Othena reservation system, the municipality is using it and in the shortage of doses, event participants did not report any problems on arrival.
On-site registration was usually completed in 20 minutes and the entire process was completed in less than an hour.
“It was very fast. The photo was good and easy, ”said Kathy Aliman, 67, of the process. “I waited maybe 15 minutes.”
After sitting for another 15 minutes to make sure there were no adverse side effects, Aliman was ready to drive back to his home in Santa Ana.
Signing up to register and secure appointments for the vaccination period was more problematic for many, and the newly vaccinated were happy to leave that behind.
County officials said improvements were made to the system this week and help is available via a hotline to navigate its use, but they also ask for patience from people.
Lauren Lugo said the online registration site crashed several times.
Aliman registered for Christmas, but only received a warning a day before her appointment that a dose was available to her.
Richard Sklar, 77, and his wife, Mary, 67, from Huntington Beach, registered one day apart, but only Richard received an email to make an appointment.
Although Mary hopes it can take several weeks before her vaccine, she said, “It is a small price to pay.”
“When we got here, it was quiet,” said Richard Sklar, although he punctured his tire on the way to Soka University.
Supervisor Doug Chafee, vice chairman of the Board of Supervisors, continued during a press conference at Soka University on Saturday to ask for patience, noting that when the county receives doses for all concerned it is out of his control.
“People want their lives to go back to normal,” he said. “We are working to ensure that (vaccines) reach the right arms at the right time. This is a long-term process. “
To know more
Vaccines in county-operated Super PODs are available to registered individuals who meet the criteria. Appointments are available at Othena.com and are scheduled based on the availability of the vaccine. People can also contact their health care professionals.
Identification and proof of eligibility in the Super PODs are mandatory.
To see a list of those who are eligible to receive a vaccine, visit the OC Health Care Agency website: occovid19.ochealthinfo.com/phased-approach-vaccine-distribution.
For questions related to COVID-19, visit ochealthinfo.com/novelcoronavirus or follow the HCA on Facebook (@ochealthinfo) and Twitter (@ochealth).
For those in need of assistance, there is a COVID-19 hotline at 714-834-2000; Medical questions: Health reference line: 800-564-8448.