RIVERSIDE COUNTY, CA – It’s another frustrating day for residents hoping to get an appointment at a COVID-19 vaccination clinic run by Riverside County.
Residents were allowed to receive one of the 3900 doses of COVID-19 vaccine to be administered at a range of country clinics on Thursday afternoon, but all appointments were made quickly.
During the sign-up process, the province’s website crashed several times due to the number of people who wanted to book appointments. Patch has heard of dozens of disappointed members of the community trying to report to the region for hours, only to learn that all appointments have been filled.
“It’s just as frustrating when there are appointments available. You really only have one chance – if you do not take the first try, by the time you go back and fill out the registration form, all the other sites are full,” he said. wrote a Patch reader.
Eager residents who tried to make appointments last week have had the same setbacks: a website crashing and ultimately no available slots.
Jose Arballo, spokesman for Riverside University Health System-Public Health, said there was a “madness” in making an appointment.
The public outrage forced the province to issue a statement on Thursday night announcing a change to its website for appointments.
“Residents are understandably frustrated that the appointment site did not show up today,” said Juan C. Perez, Interim County executive. “While we were working with our seller to ensure that it would be operational today, it was unfortunately not. Honestly, this is unacceptable. We apologize for this unfortunate situation and will be directing residents to a new site soon. . “
A new link will be announced soon for residents to sign up for COVID-19 vaccinations. When appointments are open, the new provincial website will continue to link to the state portal for vaccinations. Once all appointments have been booked, users will not be able to save time.
Although the appointment process may be smoother, the vaccine will be available in the short term.
Since the distribution of vaccines began last month, Riverside County has received a total of 157,775 doses, most of which have gone to private providers. According to the California Department of Public Health, 3,989,850 doses of vaccine have been shipped to provinces and health care system entities across the state since its distribution began.
Local suppliers 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 submits the request to the manufacturer. The manufacturer or central distributor sends the vaccine directly to the local supplier in California. It may take a week or more between the administration of the dose by the federal government until when they arrive at public health offices or providers and are ready for administration, “according to the state agency.
President Joe Biden has signed an executive order creating a COVID-19 response coordinator, whose job involves managing efforts to produce and distribute vaccines and medical devices. The president also called on the Defense Production Act to increase the supply of all the materials needed to get the vaccines into weapons.
Arballo estimates that it will take several weeks for supplies in Riverside County to meet demand.
“We’m glad to see vaccines being demanded,” Arballo said, but he sympathizes with people who can’t get an appointment right now. “I do not blame them for being frustrated.”
Riverside County received a total of 26,000 doses of Pfizer vaccine this week. The bulk of the group was for private entities throughout the province. See the full list of entities here. (Scroll down to the dashboard to see the list on the right.)
“People can also get the vaccine through providers other than the province,” Arballo said.
As additional suppliers come on board and more vaccines are received in the country, additional clinics will be opened, but the “madness” is likely to continue in the short term, Arballo said.
Upcoming clinics will accommodate residents in Phase IA of the state’s vaccination distribution plan, including health care workers and residents of long-term care facilities. Residents in Phase 1 of Phase IB will also be allowed to be vaccinated, which includes people aged 65 and over and select essential workers, such as those in education, childcare, emergency services and food and agriculture. See the full list here.
Vaccination is free at the clinics operated by the province, but people will be asked to provide information on medical insurance, although insurance is not required. People planning to be vaccinated must pre-register and bring the required paperwork to prove their eligibility.
For people who have already received a first dose of the vaccine and are worried about whether they will receive the necessary booster, Arballo said that no priority is currently given to the individuals compared to everyone who is eligible to receive the vaccine. .
“Hopefully we will still have appointments available then,” he said.
For the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, the interval is 21 days between the first and second dose, according to the Food and Drug Administration. For the Modern COVID-19 vaccine, the interval is 28 days between the first and second dose, the agency reports.
During the trial period for the vaccines, more than 90 percent of the participants received their boosters in the recommended period.
‘Participants who did not receive two vaccines with an interval of three or four weeks were generally followed only for a short time, so that we can not definitively determine the depth or duration of protection after a single dose of vaccine from the single dose percentages reported by the companies, ”reports the FDA.
It’s not reassuring, but supervisor Karen Spiegel said Wednesday: “The country is distributing the vaccine as fast as we receive it.”