The UC San Diego Health medical system is the first in the country to administer vaccinations in the expanded pool, officials said Friday.
Until now, facilities in San Diego – many of which earlier this week said they would follow state and CDC guidelines and start giving shots to residents 65 and older – have given limited doses to members of Tier 1A , which is mostly health care workers and residents in relief facilities.
In fact, the country issued a statement earlier that day about some hospitals continuing: “San Diegans 65 and older is the next priority group for COVID-19 vaccination. Due to the limited amount of doses in the region, only a few providers of healthcare has a vaccine available for their patients in this group. ‘
UC San Diego Health began vaccinating patients Thursday.
“[The] the goal is to vaccinate approximately 500 patients a day at UC San Diego Health facilities, “UC San Diego Health issued in a news release Friday afternoon.” This is in addition to the nearly 10,000 UC San Diego Health employees who are already taking their first doses in phase 1A. “
Thousands of aid workers are waiting to receive their COVID-19 vaccines. Alexis Rivas, NBC 7, spoke to a senior vaccinated senior person about the process.
Dalia Talamantez was one of the first in the 65-plus group of Tier 1B patients to get a chance.
“I am being vaccinated because I want to be protected from the virus,” Talamantez was quoted as saying in the news release by UCSD Health. ‘I was inspired to get the vaccine because I saw how many family members and friends were affected by this virus. . So it is absolutely wonderful and pleasing to me that I was able to get it soon. ”
The rollout of US vaccines is moving slower than expected, raising concerns among those at greater risk of catching COVID-19, reports Melissa Adan, NBC 7.
UCSD favors patients who are at serious risk for COVID-19 infection and have co-morbidities, officials said. Those who are eligible will receive a direct invitation to be vaccinated through their electronic medical record or a direct call from their healthcare provider. ‘
UCSD health officials, who are concerned about phone lines being overwhelmed, are urging patients not to call direct healthcare providers and asking them to wait to be contacted.
The province also said Friday that when it’s ready to start vaccinating the 65-plus pool, a range of efforts will be made to contact eligible candidates, including through information at coronavirus-sd.com/vaccine to place.
One of the reasons why the patient pool of more than 65 is preferred is that the members are more likely to die from the disease. Another is general frustration over the slow deployment of the vaccine, which should make many states eligible for the country’s 54 million senior citizens.
On Wednesday, public health officials followed the federal guidance by announcing that people aged 65 and over can now get the vaccine, which joins the already qualifying next level, from emergency workers, teachers, child care workers and food and agricultural workers which was merged into Tier 1B. The decision upset some officials, who said they did not even have enough doses to vaccinate those in Tier 1A.
San Diego County, home to 3.3 million people, has received more than 241,000 doses and administered more than 92,000 of them – although the total number is likely to be higher because vaccines are also taught by the Department of Defense and veterans to the large military presence in the region.
San Diego has approximately 620,000 health care workers and long-term health care residents in Tier 1A. Adding people 65 years and older to the vaccine adds another 500,000 people.
“It’s great that the state said, ‘Hello, people 65 and older are eligible to get vaccines,’ but it requires provinces to have the vaccines,” said Nathan Fletcher, provincial supervisor.
California received more than 2.4 million doses of vaccine as of Monday, but only a third of them were used. Local governments, meanwhile, are rushing to set up massive vaccine distribution sites in the hope that they can persuade state and federal officials to send them more doses. San Diego opened a so-called super center in the Tailgate Park parking lot outside Petco Park this week, where it received thousands of shots.