In case you forgot, the state of California is allowing people over 65 to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.
But in Los Angeles County, health officials say they are not ready to immunize people in that age group until February (they just don’t have enough vaccine). In the meantime, Long Beach, as well as Orange, San Bernardino and Riverside counties are moving forward with the group over 65 years old … but not without obstacles.
Of course, none of this is simple. Never is. We are dealing with an enormous amount of bureaucracy, in addition to exhausted and under-resourced public health departments, which have already struggled to control the unprecedented pandemic and the increase in cases.
For clarity, we contact each city / county for details.
NOTE: This is an evolving story and will be updated as we get more information.
LOS ANGELES COUNTY
To repeat: LA County will not immunize people over the age of 65 until February at least. The department is still focused on health professionals.
In the meantime, however, Dr. Paul Simon of the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health said the county will use several different channels to ensure that citizens know when their turn comes:
“Of course, we will work with the media to spread the news. In addition, [we’ll be] work with health professionals, who will then contact their patients in this age group. We will work with several organizations like AARP and others. And we have a newsletter that everyone can subscribe to on our website. Therefore, we will use all of these channels to try to get the message out. “
That website is VaccinateLACounty.com. Yor enter your email address in the gray box on the left side of the screen. When When you sign up, you will be informed via the newsletter about which groups are currently eligible to receive the vaccine.
LONG BEACH
Long Beach residents age 65 and older can start receiving the COVID-19 vaccine as early as Saturday, January 16.
Appointments for the first distribution clinic this weekend are already full, so city officials say the elderly should contact their health care providers first, or make an appointment by e-mail. [email protected] or by calling 562-570-INFO.
Everyone with an appointment should bring a payslip or employee ID card to prove they are healthcare professionals or first responders, or identification that proves they are 65 or older and live in Long Beach.
“If they don’t have the proof we’re asking for, then we ask them to move on,” Kelly Colopy, Director of Health and Human Services of the city, told our newsroom: “and so we reject some people who are coming from outside the city or who are at levels that are not yet being served.”
On Tuesday, January 19, Long Beach will begin vaccinating food service and grocery workers.
Also next week, the city launches an online portal called Vax LB, where residents can enter their information and be notified when it is their turn to be vaccinated.
Long Beach has so far vaccinated 15,000 health workers and nursing home residents. She hopes to start administering the vaccine to the general public in early summer.
Exams can be scheduled online or by calling the city information number, 562.570.INFO (4636), between 9 am and 5 pm on weekdays. Appointments are mandatory and can be made up to three days in advance.
RIVERSIDE COUNTY
Riverside County began administering the COVID-19 vaccine to residents aged 65 and over on Thursday, January 14, in addition to frontline, essential workers in education, law enforcement and agriculture.
Brooke Federico, Riverside County public information officer, says residents there will need to prove they are eligible for the vaccine with “Proof of employment through paycheck, work permit or work badge or letter of proof of employment from your employer” if you are getting the vaccine because of your job.
If you are 65 or older, you will need an identity document to validate your age and prove that you live in Riverside County.
Appointments are mandatory. You can do them on the county’s health website, ruhealth.org. The website also contains a list of pharmacies and urgent care centers that provide the vaccine.
Please note, however, that vacancies at the county clinics were filled within hours on Wednesday, January 13, so there are likely to be some initial technical issues.
Health officials say residents should check with their health care providers, if any, before signing up for county vaccination locations.
The county is also working to add a notification feature to its website, to alert people when more appointments are opened.
ORANGE COUNTY
Orange County decided to adopt the state suggestion to expand the distribution of the vaccine to the group over 65 in Wednesday, January 13th. As soon as the employees made the announcement, more than 10,000 people scheduled appointments in less than two hours.
All that traffic overloaded the application and the Othena website, which deals with appointments.
The chairman of the Orange County Board of Supervisors, Andrew Do, acknowledged the issues and asked people to be patient:
“We are working on the technical side to increase bandwidth in order to get people to at least report what we have in the system. And then, when appropriate, we can send notices to people who qualify.”
He added that people who are eligible to be vaccinated should contact their health care provider first to see how they can be vaccinated through their health care network, rather than a publicly run website.
Currently, if you visit the county Othena.com site, you must answer “yes” or “no” to “Do you live or work in Orange County?” and “Are you 65 or older?”.
If you click yes to both, you will receive a message saying “You are eligible to be vaccinated” and then register with your name, date of birth, race / ethnicity, employer, email and phone number. Then you receive this message:
We contacted the Orange County Health Department for more information and have yet to respond.
ST. BERNARDINO COUNTY
Officials announced on Thursday, January 14, that all residents of San Bernardino County aged 65 and over are now eligible to receive the vaccine.
“We ask the community for patience as we continue to receive doses from the state of California to serve our elderly population and continue to vaccinate healthcare professionals,” said Curt Hagman, chairman of the Board of Supervisors, in a statement.
At the same time, county officials say doses of the vaccine are currently scarce.
“The county will make every effort to pressure the state for the doses needed to provide vaccines quickly to all elderly people in San Bernardino County who want and need protection,” said a spokesman.
For now, they are making appointments.
County residents aged 65 and over can make appointments for sbcovid19.com/vaccine.
Seniors can also sign up for email and text notifications to receive alerts about vaccination opportunities and other vaccination news via the link “Registration of vaccines over 65 years old” at sbcovid19.com/vaccineThose who need help with scheduling or registering for notifications can call the COVID-19 hotline from 9 am to 5 pm, Monday through Friday, by calling (909) 387-3911.
Monica Bushman, Megan Ngyugen, Fiona Ng and Gina Pollack contributed to this story.
Monica Bushman, Megan Ngyugen, Fiona Ng and Gina Pollack contributed to this story.