All Californians aged 16 and over will be eligible for the COVID-19 vaccination from April 15, the state announced on Thursday.
In addition, Santa Barbara County has opened eligibility for all residents aged 50 and over for mass vaccination clinics run by Public Health next week in Lompoc.
On April 1st, next Thursday, more than 50 residents will be able to schedule appointments at any participating pharmacy, hospital, clinic or other participating vaccine provider across the state.
“It will still take months for all Californians who want to be vaccinated, but millions are being vaccinated each week,” the state said in a statement.
“Our ability to do more has always been limited by supply, manufactured supply,” Governor Gavin Newsom said at a news conference on Thursday. “We are confident now that the manufactured supply will be available ahead of schedule.”
Dr. Mark Ghaly, secretary of the California Health and Human Services Agency, said the state also made the decision because of new coronavirus outbreaks seen in other parts of the country and the world.
It is “a race of vaccines against variants and we need to do this quickly,” he said.
The state wants to remove barriers to access to vaccination, including documentation, which is why it decided to allow self-certification for people with health problems, he said.
People in this category do not need a medical certificate or other documents and can sign something stating that they have a qualifying high-risk medical condition.
Santa Bárbara County is still vaccinating the over 65-year-old group, 16-64 with high-risk medical conditions, in addition to essential workers, including health care, education and child care professionals, food and agriculture and emergency service workers . The group over 50 is eligible for the county-run clinic from Sunday to Saturday, and then next Thursday will be eligible for consultations with all vaccine providers.
Other counties, including San Luis Obispo County, have already expanded eligibility for people over 50.
Nominations have been in high demand locally, which is why the county has not yet opened them to additional groups, according to public health officials.
The county distributed 142,441 doses of the vaccine until Sunday and 11% of county residents are fully vaccinated.
April 1 is when Santa Bárbara County officially enters the state’s Blue Shield system, which will centralize vaccination appointments through the MyTurn website at https://myturn.ca.gov/.
Each pharmacy, hospital and clinic has a different registration platform now, “so, at the end of the month, MyTurn is the platform that the entire state of California will use to register or make an appointment for vaccination,” Public Health Director Van Do-Reynoso said during a town hall meeting on Tuesday.
County executive officer Mona Miyasato signed the state memorandum of understanding for the Blue Shield system last week, she added.
Some providers, including Cottage Hospital and Sansum Clinic, have already started using the system simultaneously with their independent registration systems.
County leaders have said continuously that they expect limited dose supplies to increase, and weekly totals show higher deliveries and distribution in recent weeks.
Asked why other counties have vaccinated more than 50 residents, while Santa Barbara County is still limited to more than 65 residents, Do-Reynoso said on Tuesday:
“When a county runs out of people interested in getting a vaccine and they have the same supply, then they can have this policy change. So, as long as the county can attest that they did their best, they vaccinated everyone who is eligible, aged 65 and over and comorbidities and everything and still have space, they can reach 50 years old. “
“Unfortunately, we do not have enough vaccines, although we are seeing a huge and significant increase, we are still 65 years old and we are still 80 years old who want a vaccine, but have not been able to get an appointment, and we have other priority groups that need a vaccine, but still so they had the opportunity, so we want to follow the guidelines of the state and ensure that these priority groups are vaccinated before we reach 50 years old. “
On Thursday, during an interview with KEYT, Van Do-Reynoso agreed that the process of checking multiple sites for vaccination appointments compared the process to obtaining a ‘Hamilton’ ticket or a show.
This is expected to change with increasing supply, and thousands of additional doses will be distributed in mass vaccination clinics starting on Sunday, she said.
Consultations are available for the first clinic, in Lompoc, by calling the call center 2-1-1 from 9 am to 5 pm every day or by registering on the county website: https://publichealthsbc.org/vaccine/
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