Riverside city officials on Saturday launched a mass vaccination site COVID-19, with eventual plans to inoculate about 1,500 people a day in one of the regions most affected by the pandemic.
It is the first large-scale location in Riverside, the most populous city in Riverside County, said Phil Pitchford, a spokesman for the city. Mass vaccination posts have been opened in recent weeks in Los Angeles County, Long Beach and Orange County, even as officials struggle with a shortage of doses.
The vaccines are open to people who live or work in Riverside County and are conducted under tents in a parking lot north of the Riverside Convention Center, said Capt. Brian Guzzetta, spokesman for the Riverside Fire Department.
The site is currently accommodating those aged 65 and over, educators and farm workers, childcare and emergency services – all classified as Level 1a or 1b by the state’s vaccination calendar. Doses are limited to around 500 a day due to a lack of supplies.
From now on, calls will be available from 9 am to 4 pm, Monday to Friday. Appointments can be made online via vaccine.riversideca.gov.
Consultations are full until Tuesday afternoon, however, when the city will be without its current 2,500 doses, said Mark Annas, Riverside’s emergency services administrator.
The city will likely receive additional funding on Monday or Tuesday, allowing additional consultations to be opened throughout the week, he said.
The new vaccination site has the capacity to deliver up to 1,500 doses per day, but is limited to the current number of visits because of the vaccine shortage, said Annas.
It is a problem repeated by other municipalities across the state: county officials say they have most of the resources – large vaccine centers and staff to operate them – but they do not have the doses they need.
“Our ability to protect even more LA County residents in the coming weeks and months is totally dependent and limited by the amount of vaccine we receive each week, and we often do not know from one week to the next how many doses will be allocated to the LA County, ”said public health director Barbara Ferrer in late January.
Annas called it “Achilles’ heel now in the system”.
Despite some of the unknowns about the vaccine’s availability, Riverside officials hailed Saturday’s opening as a success.
The waiting time was less than 10 minutes and many completed the appointment from start to finish in less than an hour, said Annas.
Those with an appointment park first and then walk to the vaccination area. At several mass vaccination sites in Los Angeles County, drive-through vaccines are administered to people sitting in the car.
“It is much easier for us to maintain good control of all of our patients, as opposed to people in their individual vehicles,” said Guzzetta, referring to the observation period of about 15 minutes after each injection.
In nearby San Bernardino County, a mass vaccination pop-up event is planned for Tuesday at the Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, officials said.
The opening hours open Monday morning for the event, which will have 3,500 people vaccinated, according to a county press release. Second doses will be distributed at a March 2 event, the statement said.
Those eligible for consultation at the Fontana facility include people aged 65 and over, as well as frontline health professionals and emergency services professionals. Only those who work or live in the county can guarantee a place, the statement said. Appointments can be booked at sbcovid19.com/vaccine.
The Inland Empire became a focus of coronavirus infection at the end of last year. Riverside County is currently ranked third in new coronavirus infections per 100,000 residents, with nearly 570 cases in the past seven days, according to Times data. San Bernardino County is in sixth place, with about 467 cases in the same period. In contrast, Los Angeles County is behind both counties, ranking ninth in the state, with 434 new infections in the past seven days.
Public officials and experts point to several factors behind the increase in Riverside and San Bernardino counties. The region is fueled by a logistics and manufacturing industry that accelerated during the holiday season, as online shopping – already high during the pandemic – increased.
The area’s warehouses and facilities occupy large numbers of essential workers, many of whom live in dense working-class communities, where the virus has spread.
County officials and law enforcement officials were also sometimes irritated by coronavirus restrictions, sending conflicting, if not contradictory, messages to residents.
About 25% of Riverside city fire department employees received the vaccine, according to Annas. The same percentage of city officials expressed interest in the vaccine in a survey, he said, adding that access has not yet been extended to that group.
The city plans to target essential workers and other communities disproportionately affected by the pandemic – once enough vaccines are available, said Annas.
“We are working on equity participation,” he said.
Continuing with robust testing, the city can identify critical points and direct its efforts when possible, said Guzzetta.