First doses of COVID vaccine given to Soka University, OC’s second mass vaccination site – Orange County Register

First doses of COVID vaccine given to Soka University, OC’s second mass vaccination site – Orange County Register

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On Saturday’s cold and stormy morning, a little light broke through in Orange County’s fight with the deadly coronavirus pandemic.

The province has opened its second vaccination site, Super Point-of-Dispensing, or POD, at Soka University in Aliso Viejo.

With 1,500 doses of Pfizer vaccine on hand, vaccinations have begun. Finally, officials hope to deliver 3,000 to 4,000 doses a day to the site seven days a week, as long as supplies are available.

Currently, the province has about 66,000 doses of vaccine delivered to the super PODs and smaller mobile sites. Disneyland was the first major site to open.

The province receives only about 20% of the total supply designated for Orange County, and the rest goes to hospitals and private health care providers. And officials said state and federal government supplies would come slower than expected.

Since the Disneyland website went live on January 13, more than 21,000 doses have been distributed – the recent windstorm closed the operation for two days.

However, even if it were full steam ahead with sufficient supplies, the country would have a long way to go to fill demand. According to Dr. Clayton Chau, director of the Orange County Health Care Agency, Orange County has more than 600,000 eligible residents, including 65 and older and health and emergency services workers.

The province is considering opening three more Super PODs nationwide once it receives enough vaccines to keep it going.

South County need

Supervisor Lisa Bartlett, whose Soka campus includes the fifth district of the Orange County Board of Supervisors, said it is crucial that a large site is in the southern part of the province, with more than 140,000 seniors in the district, including in the large nearby Laguna Woods senior community.

“It is absolutely essential to get the most vulnerable vaccinated,” she said.

With a large number of volunteers available, Bartlett said the province has the “bandwidth” to meet demand quickly, but adds: “we can only use the available vaccine. Each dose is injected into the arms as quickly as possible. shot. “

Tiffany Ackley, mayor of Aliso Viejo, said she has a personal interest in hosting her city as a large site. She has first-hand experience with the virus.

“My mother had COVID twice,” she said of Ann Keith, 77, who had to be hospitalized and had to undergo ventilation both times before recovering. “I had to stand outside without knowing what was going on.”

For this reason, she said she is particularly pleased that Soka University is now in use.

Provincial officials set July 4 as a target date to vaccinate 3.2 million residents of the OC.

Smooth sailing on Day 1

Celia Lugo, 65, and her daughter, Lauren, dived between the showers from Soka University Gymnasium.

“Yay, we did it,” Lauren Lugo said, stopping to take a selfie with her mother.

The residents of Laguna Niguel were grateful that the premises was open so close to their home.

“It went smoothly,” Celia Lugo said. “I expected it to be worse.”

Othena, the province used and shortages in doses, the participants at the event reported no problems with their arrival.

On-site registration is usually completed within 20 minutes and the entire process is completed in less than an hour.

“It was very fast. The shot was nice and easy, “said Kathy Aliman (67) about the process. “I waited maybe 15 minutes.”

After sitting for another 15 minutes to make sure there were no side effects, Aliman was ready to drive back to her home in Santa Ana.

Signing up to register and secure the appointments for their vaccination period was problematic for many more, and the newly vaccinated were happy to place it behind them.

Officials said the system had made improvements this week and help was available via a hotline to navigate its use, but they were also asking for people’s patience.

Lauren Lugo said the online website to register has crashed several times.

Aliman registered for Christmas, but only took note the day before her appointment that a dose was available to her.

Richard Sklar, 77, and his wife, Mary, 67, of Huntington Beach, registered within a day of each other, but only Richard received an email to make an appointment.

Although Mary expects it to take a few weeks before her vaccination, she said, “It’s a small price to pay.”

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