Agricultural, food, education, childcare and emergency services workers will be eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine next week. They join a list already made up of health workers, long-term caregivers and individuals aged 65 and over as local vaccination efforts continue to expand.
In addition, the distribution of vaccines in Kern County is being taken over by the state of California, which is changing the procedures that have been in place for the past few weeks.
As of Monday, individuals who want to use the mass vaccination site at the Kern County Fairgrounds should visit myturn.ca.gov or call a state center at 833-422-4255. Previously, public health services in Kern County handled vaccine appointments at the fair using a local call center.
At a Friday news conference, Kern County officials described the move as part of an overall plan that would eventually include all vaccine distributors in California. Kern County is part of the first wave of provinces to be added to the MyTurn system. While only the fair will be in the system next week, Brynn Carrigan, director of public health services in Kern County, explained. Appointments for all vaccines in the country will be made through the website soon.
“Eventually, all of our vaccination providers will be on MyTurn and it will be a one-stop shop for residents to go see where there are appointments and who is eligible,” she said. “All of our providers are not on MyTurn next week, but that will happen soon.”
The province plans to call individuals who received the first dose of the vaccine at the fair between February 3 and Saturday to plan the second dose. Those who do not receive a call within one week after the second dose should call 321-3000.
With the change in the platform, there has been confusion about whether people in the extended fitness categories can actually sign up for appointments. Public Health Services warned on Friday that MyTurn would not allow the extended group of workers to report yet, a provincial official hoped it would be rectified soon.
Kern County residents are looking with interest at the distribution of vaccines with the hope that life will return to normal relatively soon. However, the supply is hampered by a slow rollout, and many people who are eligible to receive the vaccine are unable to register for appointments.
So far, Kern County has received 96,600 doses of vaccine, with 93,097 administered to residents as of Friday morning. Carrigan said the number was underestimated because doses administered by the province’s health department are still not reflected in the state’s data.
“Kern is ready, with an outpouring of community providers begging for the award of vaccines, to vaccinate our community,” she said, noting that the country is capable of delivering 45,000 shots every week, but it could not because it received a limited amount of vaccine from the state.
Kern County now receives 1.6 percent of the state’s vaccine award, a figure that will rise to 2.9 percent next week. At the current rate, it will only take 11 weeks to vaccinate only 65-year-olds.
“I understand that there is a demand from our public for this vaccine,” Ryan Alsop, chief administrative officer, said during the news conference. “We understand that many of you now want to get vaccinated. We did our best to do this job with the limited stock we received. ”
He urged Kern County residents to ‘hang in there’ as the province works to increase the vaccine allocation.
But the difficulty persisted, even as more and more doses were received. About 6,000 doses that the province was to receive last week were suspended due to the extreme weather in various parts of the country, causing delays and cancellations in the appointments.
You can reach Sam Morgen at 661-395-7415. You can also follow him on Twitter @smorgenTBC.