A wave of thousands of people seeking vaccination against COVID-19 has overwhelmed Sonoma County vaccination appointments scheduled this week to serve seniors aged 75 and over, but about 85% of consultations were canceled on Friday after county staff realized that those who signed up were also young, officials said.
The rush of ineligible applications led authorities to delay a planned vaccination clinic for teachers, with another opportunity for farm workers and others scheduled in early February, as the county focuses on vaccinating about 37,000 people aged 75 and over – a group most vulnerable to the most serious results of the disease.
The county will then prioritize anyone 65 and older, adding about 65,000 others to the group who are eligible to be vaccinated.
The county’s vaccine chief, Dr. Urmila Shende, said the county acted quickly to identify the problem. She said she believes the county will be able to inoculate these age groups quickly, although she cannot provide a specific timetable.
Sonoma County Supervisors President Lynda Hopkins asked the public for patience at a news conference on Friday, and she likened the pandemic to a mass casualty event in which it is crucial to attend to the most vulnerable first.
“People over 75 in our community are those who are dying disproportionately, they are most at risk of death from COVID-19, it makes absolutely sense to prioritize them first of all for the vaccine,” he said. Hopkins. “I know it’s frustrating.”
County residents in January have contracted COVID-19 in greater numbers so far since the pandemic struck more than 10 months ago, a worrying truth that coincides this week with the reopening of businesses and the end of requests to stay at home throughout the state in force since December.
With an average of 237 cases per day since January 1, the new year continued a trend that started in December, when infections increased sharply, almost tripling compared to November.
The increase coincided with the debut of the first vaccines against the new coronavirus, which infected more than 3.2 million Californians and killed almost 40,000.
The analysis of Friday’s vaccination is another example of the challenges faced by vaccination efforts, one of the most affected by the scarcity of doses and disorganization across the state.
The county wanted the Rohnert Park clinic – one of four in a state pilot program – to vaccinate only people aged 75 and over who were disabled, had no access to technology or were disadvantaged, Shende said. To reach its target audience, the county sought “senior affiliate organizations in the community” to get older people to apply, especially those who may have been unable to register, she said.
The process started well on Sunday, with the county filling in the available times by invitation only.
But after the county distributed a link to schedule a vaccination appointment – accessible to the public, but not otherwise announced – one or more people forwarded the link to someone else and, at the end of Wednesday, the link to the page registration ended on social media, said county spokesman Paul Gullixson. He noted that the default setting for the registration site corresponded to state rules, which define 65 as the age limit, and Sonoma County’s preference was not reflected immediately.
“We distributed these invitations with very strict instructions not to forward them,” said Shende. “And someone – it happens – but someone ended up forwarding it to a friend and so on, and we know how it goes.”
This led to a deluge of applications, with 7,000 to 8,000 people applying during most of February – but 85% were people who did not complete 75, said Shende. Registering for a vaccine appointment requires a date of birth to be provided, so it was easy to quickly identify who is and is not eligible, she said.
Whether they are trying to skip the line or sincerely confused about eligibility, these people do not need to show up at previously scheduled times. Their appointments were canceled and Shende did not expect difficulties in finding people to replace them.
“It won’t be a problem,” she said. “Because we have 36,000 people who need an appointment. … will fill. “
OptumServe will notify each person of cancellations. But they are having challenges to send the notifications. They will probably be out on the weekend.
The same problem affected vaccination applications at the Oakmont Safeway clinic, Shende said. Consultations started at 10:30 am on Friday, but most of the initial reservations were made by people under 75, she said.