Some teachers, food workers and first responders in Los Angeles County could start receiving COVID-19 vaccines in two to three weeks – a big step, as the populous region works to increase its immunization implementation.
However, with supplies of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines expected to remain tight in the coming weeks, and with most LA County elders still waiting to receive their vaccines, authorities have warned that it will take time for a large number of educators , child – relief workers, food and agriculture workers and emergency and police services to receive their vaccines.
Details on how to expand vaccine eligibility for these groups are still being worked out, how to get schools and districts to offer their own vaccination clinics.
“With vaccine supply very limited and time uncertainty for increased production, a realistic and carefully developed plan to expand vaccination availability to these additional sectors is being developed,” said the County Health Director. LA, Barbara Ferrer, on Wednesday. “We plan to start vaccination for workers in these sectors within two to three weeks.”
More than 1.3 million angelenos who work in these areas would be eligible to be vaccinated. They include about 668,000 teachers, childcare workers and other educators; at least 548,000 food and agriculture workers, including grocery workers; and about 155,000 law enforcement workers, in courts and dispatch offices.
About 2.2 million people in LA County who work in healthcare, live in long-term care facilities or are 65 or older are already eligible.
But only a fraction of those eligible received at least one chance. Ferrer said that about 80% of elderly Angelenos have not yet received a single dose, and both vaccines require two vaccines, taken weeks apart.
Of the approximately 4.4 million doses that LA County would need to vaccinate all those currently eligible, the county received only 1.28 million doses, 1.05 million of which were administered last week.
Ferrer said it was time to expand eligibility, despite concerns that opening more groups in the queue would make it more difficult for seniors to get nominations.
“We need to start with some of our essential workers. It will be very difficult to wait weeks and weeks and weeks until we complete an entire sector before proceeding, ”she said.
Unfortunately, the vaccine supply to LA County is expected to be limited for several weeks, with authorities expecting only 200,000 doses per week, divided between the first and second doses. The authorities, however, expressed hope that the vaccine shortage will decrease in the coming months, with the Johnson & Johnson single-dose vaccine scheduled to be available in March, and two more vaccines on the horizon.
“So for now, it will take some time to reach everyone. And in these times of vaccine shortages, we need to ask everyone to be careful not to wait for their turn, ”said Ferrer.
The debate over when to add more people to the vaccine line has been going on across the state.
Some officials have warned that opening vaccines immediately to teachers, food workers or other first responders will prevent limited consultations for those most likely to die from the disease.
Orange County will continue to focus on seniors aged 65 and over for the next two weeks, said Dr. Clayton Chau, director of the Health Agency and county health officer, on Tuesday. Other groups already eligible for the vaccine are healthcare professionals, residents of long-term care facilities and law enforcement officials who work in areas with high rates of COVID-19, such as Anaheim and Santa Ana.
“Adding more people [to those eligible to get the vaccine] it will give the elderly fewer opportunities to be vaccinated, ”Chau told the county council of supervisors on Tuesday. “And I just want to remind people that they are the most vulnerable population.”
More than 70% of people who died of COVID-19 in California were 65 or older.
Orange County has the second largest elderly population in California, with more than 500,000 of them, behind Los Angeles, Chau said. Only a quarter of the elderly in Orange County are estimated to have received the vaccine, Chau said.
Chau said he is particularly concerned about the lack of vaccines administered among elderly people living in poor neighborhoods, particularly in Santa Ana, Anaheim and Garden Grove, who are predominantly Latino and whose residents are more likely to die from COVID-19 than people who live in other places.
Among the elderly who have been vaccinated and whose information is recorded in Othena, a vaccine scheduling system used by Orange County residents, Latinos and blacks are receiving the COVID-19 vaccine at lower rates compared to their percentage of the population.
“Obviously, we need to focus our efforts on the black and Hispanic / Latino community … and that is the plan that we are putting forward – in the next two weeks – to ensure that we reach these communities,” said Chau.
Other areas in Southern California that have already injected these groups include Riverside County and Long Beach, which runs its own separate public health agency from LA County.
San Bernardino County has opened vaccination consultations for police and emergency staff and teachers.
But across California, securing commitments has been difficult. And other counties have defended their decisions to focus on the elderly.
In San Diego County, the elderly account for 90% of COVID-19 deaths and most hospitalizations, county council of supervisors chairman Nathan Fletcher told a news conference last week.
“For an elderly person, COVID-19 can be a death sentence. And now we’re making veterans, ”said Fletcher. “Immediately after that, we go to the first level of essential workers, which are the police and the teachers … We don’t believe it would make sense to take a veteran off the line and replace him with a healthy young worker.”
Fletcher said that the moment San Diego County begins to detect any reduction in demand for vaccines, “then we will be ready and willing to quickly open the system for appointing teachers, police, food and agriculture [workers]. “
On Tuesday, the Board of Supervisors rejected a proposal to allow police officers to receive vaccines.
Dr. Wilma Wooten, a San Diego County health officer, said other counties that provide vaccines for police officers are smaller than San Diego. She said law enforcement is next in line to receive vaccines and recommended that the council not change its policy, because the elderly are still more likely to die from the disease and the police accounted for only 0.2% of people hospitalized with COVID -19.
Ventura County has taken a more conservative approach than its neighbors and has limited vaccination for people aged 75 and over and health professionals. Local authorities on Tuesday opened the vaccination for people aged 65 and over.
“I want to thank everyone in this age group for their patience,” said Linda Parks, chairman of the county’s Board of Supervisors, who added that the county “really prioritizes those who are most vulnerable.”
In the bay area, San Francisco officials said on Tuesday they would be ready to open vaccination appointments for educators, food workers and first responders on February 26. Alameda County has already expanded access to these groups.
So far, said San Francisco Mayor London Breed, more than 30% of San Francisco citizens aged 65 and over have received the first dose.
Other counties in the Bay Area have not yet opened access to educators or food workers, including Santa Clara, Contra Costa and San Mateo counties.
Gary Warth and Paul Sisson of the San Diego Union-Tribune contributed to this report.