LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) – Teachers and food and agriculture workers will be among about 1.2 million Los Angeles County residents newly eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine starting on Monday.
Vehicles travel through Dodger Stadium parking lots for the COVID-19 vaccination on February 25, 2021. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times / Getty Images).
Also newly eligible to be vaccinated are daycare workers, police and emergency service workers. They will join health professionals and those over 65, who have been receiving the vaccine for several weeks.
However, health officials said that these workers will have to be patient, as vaccine supplies remain limited and staff are being trained to ensure that only eligible people receive vaccines.
“Therefore, it will take considerable time to vaccinate these groups, unless the vaccine supply increases significantly,” said Dr. Paul Simon, director of science for the LA County Department of Public Health. “We ask the public for patience as we work on this process as quickly as possible.”
RELATED: Almost 2 Million Doses of COVID-19 Vaccine Administered in LA County
About 700,000 LA county residents over 65 have yet to receive their first dose.
The city of LA expects to receive about 70,000 doses of the Modern vaccine on Monday, which will mainly serve second doses at its six mass vaccination sites – San Fernando Park, Hansen Dam, Crenshaw Christian Center, Lincoln Park, Pierce College and Dodger Stadium – when they reopen Tuesday after closing Sunday and Monday
“Our vaccination program faced many challenges, but we made it clear that nothing will interfere with our mission to deliver this life-saving vaccine to Angelenos as quickly and safely as possible,” said Mayor Garcetti in a statement on Sunday. “Opening up eligibility for more groups of essential workers will save more lives and accelerate our recovery. We are encouraged to hear commitments for more vaccines from our federal and state partners, and we are ready to expand our operations so that we can end this pandemic. “
All second doses for this week are being automatically scheduled for patients who received their first dose in a city between February 1st and 6th. Patients will receive a notification with details of the appointment on Sunday night.
The city’s mobile sites will also triple its total capacity this week, increasing doses administered to vulnerable communities from 4,000 to 12,000, officials said.
Garcetti’s office also said the city had begun the planning process to integrate the Johnson & Johnson vaccine recently authorized by the FDA into its stock in the coming weeks.
On Friday, Simon said that LA County-run websites expect to receive a total of 269,000 doses this week, up from 211,000 last week. With the county reserving most of them for second doses, a total of 103,000 first doses will be available this week for the three sectors of workers and people aged 65 and over.
Governor Gavin Newsom determined that 10% of all vaccine supplies received in the state be immediately reserved for teachers, daycare centers and other school staff. But dividing education allocation among the 80 school districts in Los Angeles County will be a weekly challenge.
To solve the problem, the county has developed a complex formula designed to distribute the vaccine equitably. Of the doses allocated to the education sector each week, 9% will be automatically directed to private schools in the municipality, reflecting the percentage of students in the municipality who attend.
The 80 individual school districts in the county – excluding those in Long Beach and Pasadena, which have their own health departments – will be divided into five groups. The remaining available doses will be divided among these groups based on a formula that assesses the students’ general enrollment factors; the percentage of students living in poverty – based on those eligible for free or reduced price lunches; COVID case rates in each community; and whether schools already offer on-site services for students with higher needs.
The formula means that LAUSD – the country’s second largest school district – is likely to receive about 40% of the doses available in the education sector each week.
The state authorized injections as of March 15 for anyone aged 16 and over with an underlying health problem that puts them at greater risk of serious illness or death from COVID. Public health director Barbara Ferrer said last week that it is still unclear whether the county will actually expand eligibility for this group on March 15 due to supply problems.
Here is the complete list of groups under Level 1B that are now eligible for the vaccine. For more information or to check your eligibility, click here:
(1) People aged 65 and over
(two) Education and childcare
• Public schools (K-12)
• Independent schools
• Charter schools
• Nursery and Early Childhood Education
• Hired Educational Support Team
• Junior Colleges
• Colleges and universities
(3) Emergency services
• Police / law enforcement officers
• National security
• Correction officials and officers
• Courts / Legal Councils and Prosecutors
• School and university police
• Rehabilitation and Reentry
• Federal police agencies
• Police, Fire and Ambulance dispatchers
• Security team to maintain access control to the building and physical security measures
• DCFS, APS (workers physically responding to the abuse and neglect of children, the elderly and dependent adults)
(4) Food and agriculture
• Food service workers
• Food manufacturing workers
• Grocery workers
• Animal agriculture workers, including those involved in veterinary health
• Agricultural workers
• Veterinarians
• Port and transport workers associated with food and agriculture
(© Copyright 2021 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All rights reserved. City News Service contributed to this report.)