Pasadena officials canceled a COVID-19 vaccination clinic for the elderly, grocery workers and other essential workers on Tuesday after hundreds of people who were not eligible for vaccines signed up for consultations.
People who have not yet qualified for the vaccine under state guidelines have claimed about 900 of the 1,500 vacancies in a clinic that was designed for people over 65 and essential workers who live or work in Pasadena, the spokeswoman said. city Derderian.
Many of the nominations were made by people who worked in the news media and in Hollywood, Derderian said, including in production companies, TV broadcasting services, news agencies and on soap opera sets.
“Hundreds signed up in the first hour,” said Derderian. “It was like a quick shot.”
The Pasadena Department of Public Health last week sent an email to health professionals, the elderly, daycare centers, teachers and food professionals who had already expressed an interest in receiving the vaccine, saying they could make an appointment at a clinic in Pasadena City College.
The email informed workers that they would be required to provide proof that they worked in a qualified industry and lived or worked in Pasadena. The email also included a registration link to California’s vaccination scheduling system, CalVax, and provided vacancies for five days, including Thursday.
On Monday, a Los Angeles Times reporter who received a link to sign up for an interview called the city, Derderian said. Authorities opened the registration system and saw that hundreds of people with jobs in Hollywood and in the media had claimed vacancies, she said.
The registration link for Thursday’s vaccination clinic spread like wildfire. A warning with red letters failed to keep the links private.
The CalVax website does not allow health departments or vaccine clinics to limit registrations to people who live or work in certain zip codes. This means that people who are not eligible for vaccines, or ineligible in a particular location, can still fill out registration forms and guarantee an appointment.
The Pasadena health department tries to improve its screening process by contacting everyone who lists an out-of-town address on the registration form, Derderian said. Many are restaurant and grocery workers who can film themselves and go to the city to work, she said. The authorities remind them to bring a payslip, a letter from the employer or other form of documentation that proves that they work within the city limits.
Calling 900 people in a few days to check their eligibility or asking them not to attend was too much, said Derderian. The city decided to reschedule the clinic. No new date has been confirmed.
“We would have hundreds of people attending who would not have qualified, and they would have been rejected,” said Derderian. “I am sure that the situation would have worsened in many cases.”
She added: “We have verified the identity. We will reject you if you do not meet the current level, if you do not live or work in the city. Our health officer will not risk your credentials, health department licensing or the city’s reputation. We are very strict in complying with the guidelines. “
The cancellation of the clinic was particularly difficult news for the elderly who struggled to get appointments and who were practically isolated from the world for a year, said Derderian. Some cried when they learned that their commitments had been changed, she said.
Local authorities have complained that the state’s technology for making and managing vaccine markings is flawed and does not allow them to easily reserve vaccine markings for people in communities where infection rates are high and vaccination rates are low.
The problems in Pasadena reflected a situation in Los Angeles County, where registration codes designed to reserve vaccination appointments for residents of communities hard hit by COVID-19 ended up in the hands of more privileged Angelenos, including teachers from private schools and Hollywood employees like The Times previously reported.
Officials said the region was scheduled to receive its largest portion of COVID-19 vaccines in a single week – a welcome, if possibly short-lived, booster that will allow tens of thousands of additional Angelenos to receive their first injection.
The expected total swelling this week of about 312,000 doses is a substantial consignment of Johnson & Johnson Vaccine, which federal drug regulators recently authorized for emergency use The authorities are hopeful that the single-dose vaccine will help accelerate inoculation rates across the country.
LA County expects to receive 53,700 doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine this week.
Los Angeles city officials said they planned to administer 88,000 injections this week, and most of them – almost 68,000 – will be the first doses. This week’s benefit may be a sign, at least in the short term, with the launch of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine was slowed down production problems.