Orange County will begin this week setting aside doses of COVID-19 vaccine for workers in education, child care and food and agriculture, officials said.
The province plans to dedicate 30% of the vaccines to workers in those sectors, as well as those in emergency services. The remaining 70% goes to residents 65 and older, Orange County Health Care Agency spokeswoman Jessica Good said in an email Sunday.
Provincial officials have instructed vaccine providers to distribute the grants they receive directly in the same way, according to a submission given to the province’s vaccination task force on Saturday.
Orange County residents 65 and older and first responders working in high-risk communities could be vaccinated since mid-January.
The province estimates that it has 450,000 senior residents and nearly 477,000 who work in education, child care, food and agriculture or emergency services. The province has not yet received its vaccine award for this week.
In order to vaccinate more people, the country needs to replenish its stock of vaccine, the health department said in an update on Friday. Grants were inadequate and volatile, as was the case throughout the U.S., and severe winter weather elsewhere in the country further delayed the shipment of the Moderna vaccine to California, forcing the temporary closure of several large-scale distribution sites over the weekend.
In Orange County, the distribution site at Disneyland was closed until Monday. The province may have to postpone the opening of new premises in the Anaheim Conference Center that was scheduled for Wednesday due to postponement of the shipment, the health department said.
A site at Soka University in the United States that mainly administers the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine remains open for second doses, but one at Santa Ana College closed temporarily on Saturday, and officials said the reopening would depend on reception. of more Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
In the mayor’s office, all six vaccination sites in the city, including Dodger Stadium, will resume Tuesday.
California announced in December that workers in education, child care, food and agriculture and emergency services would be eligible to receive the vaccine during Phase 1B of the state’s distribution plan and later expanded the group to include 65-year-olds and older . But exactly how it played out varied by country.
Many provinces vaccinated seniors last month and some workers from law enforcement and emergency services; other emergency services workers, such as firefighters and emergency medical technicians, were offered earlier doses because they were also health workers, which came into consideration in Phase 1A of the state’s plan.
Workers in education, child care and food and agriculture can receive vaccinations from February 26 in San Francisco and from March 1 in Los Angeles, although public health officials in both provinces have warned that the pace will be slowed by the limited supply. Long Beach, which has its own health department and receives its own vaccine supply, vaccinated food workers and educators last month.
Santa Barbara County has not yet set a date for workers in education, child care and food and agriculture, but hopes to find out more this week, according to Jackie Ruiz, public information officer for the province’s health department.
Workers in those sectors have been eligible to receive vaccinations in Riverside County since the state moved into Phase 1B a few weeks ago, said Brooke Federico, the public information officer. Although the province’s public health clinics had to limit vaccinations to 65 years and older due to limited supplies, essential workers were able to make appointments with private providers, Federico said.
In San Bernardino County, teachers and school support staff who are personally receiving or supporting personal assignments before the end of the current school year, or are eligible, says David Wert, the public information. official. The province could not offer vaccines to all teachers and school staff or to food and agricultural workers due to the limited supply, but it hopes to be eligible soon, he said.