A COVID-19 vaccination clinic in Pasadena, California, which was scheduled to take place on Thursday, was canceled Tuesday after most of the time slots were filled with those working in Hollywood and the media.
As first reported by the Los Angeles Times, 900 of the clinic’s 1,500 vaccination slots have been claimed by those who are not eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine in the state of California. The clinic is designed to vaccinate people aged 65 and over and essential workers, such as employees in grocery stores, who live or work in Pasadena, and an email with a registration link was sent to those who qualified last week . Instead, Lisa Derderian, city spokeswoman, said Variety that many of those who enrolled at the clinic worked at production companies, newspapers, streaming platforms, and film or television sets.
“They were not at the current level. Many of them worked for the streaming, video and production companies or news, and they did not live or work in Pasadena, ”says Derderian.
Derderian says she was first notified when an LA Times reporter called her office Monday and said they had received a call to register for the vaccine clinic and ask if it was legal. Derderian then called the Pasadena Department of Public Health, which looked at the back of the CalVax registration system, where the addresses and employers of those registered can be obtained.
“Within an hour of the site being available, we had a few hundred people already registered who did not qualify,” says Derderian.
The number quickly climbed to 900 at the end of the day on Monday, leading to the city’s decision to cancel Thursday’s clinic. Derderian says similar situations have occurred before with respect to people who are not eligible to be vaccinated, but never so high.
Derderian usually says that the city examines the names and addresses of each person who registers and makes personal calls to determine if those who do not fall into the current level are eligible. But 900 calls were too many for the staff to handle, and so they canceled the clinic rather than turn up those who were not eligible.
“900 was not a feasible amount to make those calls, so we decided we had to cancel it and call the remaining people who were legal,” Derderian said. “Unfortunately, many are the senior population we have worked really hard to make contact with.”
The city wants to reschedule the clinic for next week, if not sooner, and is considering switching their registration system to MyTurn, another state system that could provide an easier verification process.
Although the original email to those eligible for the clinic contains text that makes it clear who qualifies for the vaccine, Derderian believes that it was distributed by someone who obtained the link, and then without the context to others. sent.
Finally, Derderian encourages all California residents to wait for their right time to be vaccinated.
“I mean, most people know what levels they fall under, it gets in the news every day,” Derderian says. If in doubt, they should have called. So I’m sure some of it was unintentional, but a lot of it was about manipulating the system. ”