RIVERSIDE COUNTY, CA – It was another frustrating day for residents hoping to get an appointment at a COVID-19 vaccination clinic operated by Riverside County.
Residents were able to sign up at noon on Thursday to receive one of the 3,900 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine to be administered at a series of clinics administered by the county, but all appointments were answered quickly.
During the application process, the county website crashed several times due to the number of people trying to make an appointment. Patch listened to dozens of disappointed community members who tried for hours to connect to the county website, only to find that all commitments were met.
“It gets very frustrating when times are available. You really have only one chance – if you don’t get it on the first try, when you go back and fill out the registration form again, all the other sites are full,” wrote a Patch reader.
Anxious residents who tried to get consultations last week faced the same setbacks: a website crashing and, ultimately, no vacancies available.
Jose Arballo, spokesman for Riverside University’s Health-Public Health System, said there was a “frenzy” to getting an appointment.
The public outcry prompted the county to issue a statement late on Thursday announcing a change to its appointment scheduling website.
“Residents are understandably frustrated because the nomination website did not work today,” said Juan C. Perez, Interim Executive Director for the County. “Although we worked with our supplier to ensure that it would be operational today, unfortunately it was not. Frankly, this is unacceptable. We apologize for this unfortunate situation and we will soon be directing residents to a new website.”
A new link will be announced shortly for residents to register for the COVID-19 vaccination. When consultations are open, the new county website will continue to have a link to the state’s vaccine registration portal. If all appointments are booked, users cannot guarantee a time.
Although the appointment process may be more relaxed, vaccine availability will still be short in the short term.
Since vaccine distribution began last month, Riverside County has received a total of 157,775 doses, most of which have been for private providers. According to the California Department of Public Health, 3,989,850 doses of vaccines have been sent to counties and health care organizations across the state since the start of distribution.
Local providers order the vaccine through the state, which in turn orders doses from the federal government, according to the California Department of Public Health.
“The federal government then authorizes the order and sends the order to the manufacturer. The manufacturer or central distributor sends the vaccine directly to the local California provider. It may take a week or more between when the doses are allocated by the federal government and when they arrive at public health services or providers and are ready for administration ”, informs the state agency.
President Joe Biden signed an executive order that created a COVID-19 response coordinator, whose job involves managing efforts to produce and distribute vaccines and medical equipment. The president also invoked the Defense Production Act to increase the supply of all the materials needed to put vaccines in weapons.
Arballo estimates it will take several weeks for supplies to meet the needs of Riverside County.
“We are happy to see that vaccines are in demand,” said Arballo, but he sympathized with people who cannot make an appointment now. “I don’t blame them for being frustrated.”
Riverside County received a total of 26,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine this week. Most of the lot was intended for private entities across the county. See the full list of entities here. (Scroll down to the panel to see the list on the right.)
“People can also get the vaccine from suppliers other than the county,” said Arballo.
As more providers come on board and more vaccines are received in the county, more clinics will be opened, but the “frenzy” is likely to continue in the short term, Arballo said.
The next clinics will accommodate residents in Phase IA of the state’s vaccine distribution plan, including healthcare professionals and residents of long-term care facilities. Residents at Phase 1 level IB will also be allowed to be vaccinated, which includes people aged 65 and over and selecting essential workers, such as those in education, day care, emergency services and food and agriculture. See the full list here.
Inoculation is free at county-run clinics, but people will be asked to provide medical insurance information, although insurance is not mandatory. People planning to be vaccinated must register in advance and bring the necessary paperwork to prove their eligibility.
For people who have already received the first dose of the vaccine and are concerned about whether they will receive the necessary reinforcement, Arballo said that currently no priority is given to these individuals compared to everyone else who is eligible to receive the vaccine.
“Hopefully by then, we will have more commitments available,” he said.
For the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, the interval is 21 days between the first and the second dose, according to the Food and Drug Administration. For the vaccine Moderna COVID-19, the interval is 28 days between the first and the second dose, informs the agency.
During the vaccine testing period, more than 90 percent of participants received reinforcements within the recommended period.
“Participants who did not receive two doses of the vaccine over an interval of three or four weeks were generally followed up for a short period of time, so we cannot conclude anything definitive about the depth or duration of protection after a single dose of the vaccine. from the single dose percentages reported by companies, “reported the FDA.
It is not comforting, but supervisor Karen Spiegel said on Wednesday: “The county is distributing the vaccine as soon as we receive it.”