A scourge of thousands of people seeking vaccination against COVID-19 has overturned the Sonoma Province vaccination that was instituted this week to serve elders aged 75 or older, but about 85% of appointments have been canceled as of Friday after provincial staff realized that those who enrolled were also young, officials said.
The rush of non-qualifying applications prompted officials to postpone a planned vaccination clinic for teachers, with another opportunity for agricultural workers and others that would be in check in early February, as the province focuses on vaccinating about 37,000 people 75 years or older – a group most vulnerable to the most serious outcomes of the disease.
The province will then prioritize 65 or older and add about 65,000 people to the pool who are eligible to be vaccinated.
Urmila Shende, the province’s vaccine chief, said the country had acted quickly to identify the problem. She said she believes the country can vaccinate these age groups quickly, although it cannot provide a specific timeline.
Sonoma County Supervisors chairwoman Lynda Hopkins on Friday called on the public to be patient during a news conference, comparing the pandemic to a mass casualty event in which it is vital to first serve those most vulnerable. is.
“The people over 75 in our community are those who die excessively, these are the ones who are at greatest risk of dying from COVID-19, which makes absolute sense to prioritize them for the vaccine in the first place, “Hopkins said. “I know it’s frustrating.”
In January, residents of the province received the largest number of COVID-19s since the pandemic hit more than ten months ago, a worrying truth that coincides this week with the reopening of business and the end of nationwide home orders since December.
With an average of 237 cases per day since January 1, the new year continued with a trend that began in December when infections rose sharply, almost tripling compared to November.
The boom coincided with the debut of the first vaccinations for the new coronavirus that infected more than 3.2 million Californians and killed nearly 40,000 people.
Friday’s breakdown of the vaccine appointment is another example of the challenges facing vaccination efforts, one that suffers best from dose shortages and disorganization in the state.
The province intended that the clinic in Rohnert Park – one of four in a state pilot program – only vaccinate people who were 75 years and older who were disabled, had access to technology or were otherwise disadvantaged, Shende said. To achieve its target demographics, the province reached out to ‘affiliated senior organizations in the community’ to enroll older people, especially those who may not have been able to register themselves, she said.
The process began smoothly enough on Sunday, and the country filled appointment slots only by invitation.
But after the province distributed a link to plan a vaccination appointment – publicly accessible but not otherwise advertised – one or more people forwarded the link to someone else, and by late Wednesday, the link to the social media login page beland. provincial spokesman Paul Gullixson said. He noted that the default setting of the reporting site complies with state rules, which set 65 as a cut-off, and that Sonoma County’s preference is not immediately reflected.
“We gave these invitations with very strict instructions not to forward,” Shende said. “And someone – it happens – but someone finally sent it to a friend, and so on, and we know how it goes.”
This led to an avalanche of reports, with 7,000 to 8,000 people reporting most of February – but 85% were people who had not yet turned 75, Shende said. Registering for a vaccine appointment requires a date of birth, so it was easy to quickly identify who was eligible and who was not, she says.
Whether they are trying to jump the rope or genuinely confused about the suitability, the people do not have to appear at their previously scheduled times. Their appointments were canceled, and Shende did not expect problems finding people who would take their place.
“It will not be a problem,” she said. ‘Because we have 36,000 people who need the appointments. … It will be full. ‘
OptumServe will notify each person of the cancellations. But they have challenges getting the notices out. They will probably go out this weekend.
The same problem was reported for vaccinations at the Oakmont Safeway Clinic, Shende said. Appointments opened at 10:30 a.m. Friday, but most initial bookings were made by people under 75 years of age.