ANAHEIM, CA— Residents hoping to register for coronavirus vaccinations flooded a new online registration system designed for that purpose on Wednesday, when the Orange County large-scale vaccination site opened at Disneyland Resort.
Cars filled the streets near the resort on Wednesday, with residents anxious for their first dose of the coronavirus vaccine. But only those with commitments were allowed to enter and everyone else was asked to leave.
Only residents who fell into phase 1A of the county’s vaccination plan had a chance to make an appointment. Anyone in Orange County aged 65 or over can register. Others who fall under the phase 1A guidelines can also register for vaccination.
More than 10,000 Orange County residents scheduled COVID-19 vaccination appointments at the Disneyland Resort center overnight through Othena.com. Thousands more have registered with the Othena system to be notified when more appointments are available. The magnitude of users caused the site to sink on Wednesday, with health officials promising to resolve “technical problems that this large flow of visitors may have caused”. At noon, the Othena website appeared to be up and running.
In Disneyland, Orange County Health Care has transformed a huge outdoor parking area into a coronavirus vaccination center, one of five planned for the county. The hope is to vaccinate up to 7,000 residents a day, officials said. Orange County spokeswoman Jessica Good said about 3,000 vaccines will be administered on the first day of operation.
The Othena website has a question and answer interface and directs users to fill out an information form. As users browse the site, the most restrictive question is whether they are 65 or not. If a user meets the age requirement, the site allows them to sign up. If not, she will be contacted when an appointment is available. The Othena app will soon be available on Google Play and can currently be downloaded to Apple devices.
Throughout the day, users received intermittent notifications that the site was delaying registration “due to the high volume of traffic”. New user registrations have also been blocked intermittently. These are the growing pains of something that has never been done before.
The volume of interest in vaccination can be seen as positive, and many residents have contacted Patch to say that they are frustrated, confused and concerned that they will have a chance to protect themselves from the pandemic. With more than 3.2 million residents and only a few thousand vaccinations a day, many wonder how long it will take for everyone to receive COVID-19 protection.
Many South County residents – especially those over 80 – have expressed concern about getting to the Disneyland location and driving a long distance to have a chance to get rid of their concerns about the coronavirus.
Disneyland Resort is just the first of at least five super-vaccination sites to open in the county’s effort toward collective immunity, according to Orange County Interim President and Supervisor, Andrew Do.
“If you open another website, it will be 14,000 a day,” said Do. “A lot of that will depend on the number of vaccines that arrive in Orange County. It makes no sense to establish Distribution Point Superpoints if we don’t have vaccines to keep it running.”
Authorities need to vaccinate at least 2 million county residents to achieve the 60 to 70 percent “herd immunity” needed to stem the spread of the virus, Do.
As coronavirus increases across the county, testing remains essential for residents who have been exposed to COVID-19. In the meantime, the Orange County Board of Supervisors is working to turn the test sites into vaccination centers.
Under the guidance of the Orange County Health Agency, nurses and doctors at the Orange County Fire Department helped deliver the first injections to those who qualified for phase 1A vaccines.
Those who received their vaccines at fire department facilities will now need to go to a major vaccination center, such as Disneyland, for the second dose. The county said those in the process of vaccination will need to access their Othena account and will be referred to an appropriate secondary vaccination site within 21 days.
The cross between those who need a second chance and those who receive the first can become problematic, said Do. “How do you vaccinate 2 million people twice? There are 4 million doses, ”he said.
Other distribution locations were discussed, such as Knott’s Berry Farm, the OC Fair & Event Center in Costa Mesa, the University of California, the Irvine campus and the Soka University of America in Aliso Viejo.
Disneyland Resort, Orange County’s largest employer, has remained closed for business since the coronavirus pandemic struck Orange County in mid-March. Anaheim suffered from both health and business, according to officials. The city has seen one of the highest numbers of coronavirus cases in the county, and tourism companies have been paralyzed.
County officials pin their hopes on the large-scale vaccination of Orange County residents, and everyone hopes that this will end the ongoing shutdown that devastated Anaheim, Orange County and much of southern California.
Those interested in receiving the COVID-19 vaccine can view phased eligibility levels and other important information about vaccination on the County Health Agency website.
The appointments are crucial to avoid overloading distribution centers, the agency said. “We know that the public is looking forward to receiving the vaccine and we are working diligently to receive additional supplies,” said an agency spokesman. “Consultations will be available as soon as there is a vaccine supply to meet this demand.”
Residents can make appointments in Othena. As of 10 am, the Othena site was closed due to the “high volume of traffic”.
“I see this as our first significant step as a county to retake our COVID county,” said Do. “Now it’s us fighting the virus and defeating it by vaccinating many people.” It is not known how many residents were added to their registration system.
Read also: First hurdle: Getting residents to vaccinate in Orange County