Shipment disruptions caused by the severe cold weather gripping much of the country are causing closures at mass vaccination sites in Orange County, officials announced Thursday, Feb. 18.
The Disneyland Super POD (point of dispensing) in Anaheim, set up in one of the theme park’s parking lots, closed Thursday and will remain closed through Monday, pending delivery of more COVID-19 vaccine shots, county officials announced in a statement.
Patients with vaccine appointments from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. Thursday were first turned away due to wind at the tented Disneyland site, according to a Health Care Agency tweet. Later the announcement was made about the prolonged closure.
Another large-scale site at Soka University in Aliso Viejo will remain open at least through Saturday to provide second doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, but won’t be serving first-time visitors, Orange County CEO Frank Kim said.
A smaller site at Santa Ana College, which opened Wednesday, will keep Thursday and Friday appointments before a temporary closure that starts Saturday; a reopening date has not been set, pending receipt of more Pfizer vaccines.
To reassure people whose second dose appointments may be pushed back, Kim said guidance from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicates a second shot can be given safely and effectively up to six weeks after the first. (Pfizer’s second dose is recommended three weeks after the first, and the recommended interval between Moderna shots is four weeks.)
“We obviously are not planning to extend those timelines out that far,” Kim said, but for anyone whose second dose appointment gets canceled or delayed, “you’re going to be at the front of our list and we’re going to get you in as quick as we can.”
The launch of an Anaheim Convention Center site, scheduled for Wednesday, Feb. 24, may also be pushed back as the opening is “dependent on Moderna vaccine supply,” officials said.
“The expected Moderna vaccine delivery on Tuesday, Feb. 16, did not arrive. As a result, Moderna vaccine inventory is very low. State guidance encourages dispensing all vaccine supplies as quickly as possible and does not allow for maintaining a large inventory in reserve,” the county statement said.
“Everyone who has an appointment at the affected sites will receive a notification through Othena (the county’s appointment system) with information regarding rescheduled appointments,” the statement said.
Anyone with questions about whether their appointment is affected can check Othena’s website, Othena.com or mobile app, or call the county’s vaccine hotline at 714-834-2000.
Kim said he’s hoping more doses will arrive this weekend, and state officials told counties Thursday afternoon they expect a shipment of vaccines sometime next week, but if nothing arrives, Orange County may have to keep its PODs closed beyond Monday.
State Department of Public Health officials confirmed Thursday to a reporter that California was among states affected by the vaccine shortages, but did not elaborate on how distributions to counties and health networks that operate in multiple counties would change in the short term.
Kaiser Permanente – one of Southern California’s largest providers – so far has administered about 339,000 of 400,000 doses it has received for the region, said Dr. Michael Morris, physician director of Kaiser Permanente Southern California’s COVID-19 Vaccination Program, in an emailed response through a spokesman.
The remain 15% of doses is to “ensure” second doses, he said. “In order to vaccinate as many people as possible, we are not strictly holding half of our vaccines secured for second doses, and are essentially borrowing from future vaccine allocations from the state.”
Weekly allocations had been coming in reliably as vaccination efforts grew statewide, he said. “This week, however, we’ve experienced delays in vaccine delivery due to poor weather conditions at the UPS and FedEx hubs back east, and we may have to reschedule some appointments.”
UCI Health’s vaccination drive also has been impacted by logistical delays, said spokesman Tom Vasich. State health officials informed the University of California’s health care arm that some expected vaccines might arrive Friday, while others would instead land next week.
“As such, UCI Health’s allocation of the Moderna vaccine will arrive tomorrow or early next week,” Vasich said Thursday. “We will closely monitor whether this delay will affect future UCI Health vaccine clinics, and we will have a better idea of the impact by Monday morning.”
The snowy, icy weather that has paralyzed much of the United States has held up vaccine shipments and slowed or stopped distribution in parts of Southern California and across the country.
Pasadena’s Public Health Department had enough on hand this week to give people their second doses, but officials said first doses were going to be very limited. The department’s director, Dr. Ying-Ying Goh, said Wednesday that officials hoped to have enough vaccines to start giving first doses again by the first week of March. In Los Angeles, the delays affected five of the city’s mass vaccination sites, including the largest at Dodger Stadium, though others in the greater county area were not expected to be affected.
In New York, the city has had to hold off setting 30,000 to 35,000 vaccination appointments. In parts of the south the weather forced sites to close.
“People are working as hard as they can,” White House COVID-19 coordinator Jeff Zients said, “given the importance of getting the vaccines to the states and to providers, but there is an impact on deliveries.”
Staff Writer Bradley Bermont and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
"close" - Google News
February 19, 2021 at 03:13AM
https://ift.tt/2OSo23a
Orange County will intermittently close mass vaccination sites due to low supply - OCRegister
"close" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2QTYm3D
https://ift.tt/3d2SYUY
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Orange County will intermittently close mass vaccination sites due to low supply - OCRegister"
Post a Comment