By 
Spencer Custodio |
This story has been updated.
After a terrifying outcry over coronavirus vaccination at Soka University, Orange County health officials said late Wednesday the doses could still be administered after talking to the manufacturer.
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“A refrigeration problem was noticed last night that rendered some vaccines unusable,” country spokeswoman Molly Nichelson said in a text message Wednesday afternoon. An additional vaccine was introduced to reach all the appointments in Soka. No disruption to our vaccination efforts. ”
She also said provincial officials are working with the manufacturer to see if doses can be saved.
Nichelson did not say how many vaccines could be damaged or discarded.
In a late Wednesday afternoon announcement, provincial officials said Pfizer determined the vaccines were safe after officials prevented them from spreading safely.
“After reviewing the details, the manufacturer advised that the temperature deviation does not impair the safety of the vaccine or its efficacy, and confirmed that the vaccine is safely available under the normal protocol,” Nichelson said in a late Wednesday- sms message said. “There were no interruptions in the appointment scheme or the administration of the vaccine on the Soka University’s Super POD website today.”
Meanwhile, residents went from Twitter to Twitter to complain about the sudden rearrangement of their upcoming appointments.
Most of the rescheduled appointments were for this weekend.
A second dose # OCCOVID19 vaccination appointments scheduled for 13 & 14 February at @OCGovCA Super PODs had to be rescheduled to better manage the supply of vaccines. We apologize for the inconvenience this may cause to the community, “reads a tweet from Wednesday afternoon of the County Health Agency.
While public health officials are conducting an apparent reallocation of vaccines, calls are getting louder to get data on exactly where vaccines are going and to vaccinate more vulnerable people.
Elected officials in Orange County are increasingly calling on local and state public health officials to release coronavirus vaccination data set out in zip codes in an effort to target the hard-hit communities.
“I think it needs to be mentioned again, because we all know that Latinos are excessively behind in the vaccination figures,” Anaheim City Councilor Avelino Valencia said during Tuesday’s council meeting. “I would recommend that we work to improve vaccination rates.”
Although Anaheim has a super vaccination in Disneyland, it is unknown how many residents in the city have been vaccinated.
Mayor Harry Sidhu joined Avelino and asked for vaccinations to the areas hardest hit.
Sidhu also said he wanted information on “some of the key postal codes in the area … we have large cases of COVID.”
Councilman Jose Moreno wants not only zip code information, but also information about who gets vaccinated on the Disneyland supersite.
“One piece of data indicates that Anaheim at the superpole is largely unvaccinated,” Moreno said, pointing to the demographics demographics for Latinos, which are 11%, according to a provincial vaccination tracker.
‘Since our city is 55% Latino and we know it’s excessively a working class … we know it’s not them who are being vaccinated. “If there is no more information, I can only conclude that there is serious inequality,” Moreno said.
Councilors from Santa Ana are also campaigning for zip code information and targeted vaccinations in the city.
During a Zoom meeting with provincial health officials and community clinics last week, Santa Ana Mayor Vicente Sarmiento said Frank Kim’s CEO noted that there are not many Latinos on the Disney super site.
“The demographics really do not suit those who are most disproportionate, not even by his own admission,” Sarmiento said.
During Tuesday’s provincial supervisor meeting, dr. Clayton Chau, OC health officer, said current vaccine distribution data are largely unreliable.
Chau also said officials are setting up a vaccination site at Santa Ana College and Christ Cathedral in Garden Grove, although no definitive timeline has been given.
Smaller vaccination clinics in the area to Anaheim and Santa Ana are expected to begin Friday.
Gavin Newsom’s government has hinted that nationwide information on vaccination demographics will be available soon.
“Out of all the reporting you’ve seen at the provincial level, the state will expand aggregates … later this week,” Newsom said during a Wednesday news conference at the Fresno Fairgrounds.
Some people chanted “reminiscent of Gavin” during his news conference as the recall attempts against him grows the point that it is likely to come to the vote.
He faced criticism of some of the public health orders, such as banning outdoor dining while leaving shopping malls open during local closures that ended last month.
Newsom was also heavily criticized for eating out in a high-end restaurant with friends and lobbyists at a time when indoor dining was closed last year.
There are still questions about how comprehensive the vaccination data will be across the country.
At Tuesday’s OC supervisor meeting, Chau said a local hospital official told him that the state does not collect some of the data that hospitals upload to the nationwide vaccination system.
‘We work with the person carrying their vaccine, which is why she entered the system where she uploaded information to the state every night. “She realized that even though she was uploading zip code information, the state was not recording zip code information,” Chau said.
Meanwhile, Newsom said 100,000 more vaccines are being sent directly from federal officials to the roughly 100 “underserved communities” pharmacies.
Yet the three pharmacy locations opened in OC are nowhere near the areas worst affected.
Three sites will be opened at CVS pharmacies in Irvine, Newport Beach and Huntington Beach to vaccinate people 65 and older.
Although the pharmacy vaccines are available to all the elderly, concerns have been expressed about some residents in the areas hardest hit and struggling to get to CVS clinics.
Dr Shruti Gohil, a doctor on infectious diseases treating viral patients at UC Irvine Medical Center, said she did not understand why these three sites were chosen compared to sites in Santa Ana, Garden Grove and other areas that are heavy. was not hit.
“It amazes me honestly. “I do not understand why this is the first target,” said Gohil.
CVS officials did not respond to questions about exactly how the sites were selected.
Gohil said she understands that the state’s guidelines could hamper some purposeful efforts, but there is still room for maneuver in it, such as vaccinating seniors in the poorest communities of OC.
‘I understand, however, that the guidance was to include 65-year-olds and older people. “In the population, they are therefore just trying to get things out broadly,” Gohil said. “But it should not be just for that group. It really needs to center around the communities that have been hit the hardest. ”
Meanwhile, hospitalizations are still declining.
As of Wednesday, 1,009 people have been admitted to the hospital, including 310 in intensive care units.
But deaths are still rising.
According to the country, the virus has now killed 3,451 people, including 35 new deaths reported today Healthcare Agency.
Newly reported deaths can last for weeks due to delays.
Since February began, 389 deaths have been reported.
1187 deaths were reported in January, many of which occurred in December when hospitals were dealing with virus patients.
The virus has killed more than five times the annual average flu.
It is also more deadly than heart disease, Alzheimer’s disease and stroke do annually.
In that context, Orange County has averaged about 20,000 deaths a year since 2016, including 543 annual flu deaths, according to health status data.
According to the state’s death statistics, cancer kills more than 4,600 people, heart disease kills more than 2,800, more than 1,400 die as a result of Alzheimer’s disease and strokes kill more than 1,300 people.
According to Orange County, Orange County has already exceeded its annual average of 20,000 deaths, with 23,883 people in December. available state data.
Here is the latest information on virus numbers in Orange County:
Infections | Hospitalizations and deaths | City-by-city data | Demographics
Spencer Custodio is a reporter for Voice of OC. You can reach him at [email protected] Follow him on Twitter @SpencerCustodio