SANTA BARBARA COUNTY, California – Santa Barbara County Public Health has announced that from Tuesday, February 16, they will be eligible for the COVID-19 vaccination for 65-year-olds.
Until now, vaccines could only be distributed to essential workers and 75-year-olds.
“Vaccine deployment challenges have caused many residents anxiety and frustration,” said Henning Ansorg, a public health official.
The announcement was made during the weekly newsletter on the coronavirus news about Zoom.
With an average of 6,000 doses arriving each week, Santa Barbara County may still not be able to vaccinate separate sector populations.
These include:
“Even though we’re going to be over 65,” said Van Do-Reynoso, director of public health. “We are still very limited in the number of vaccines we get as a country.”
“These difficult first two months could have been advertised if the government had secured and shipped the number of doses they had promised,” Ansorg added.
Dr. Anthony Fauci also announced Friday that he expects the general public to have access to COVID-19 vaccines by sometime in April, while most Americans will be vaccinated by mid or late summer.
“I would imagine that, when we are in April, we would ask for better wording in the open season,” Fauci said. “Virtually anyone and everyone in any category can start vaccinating.”
Pfizer and Moderna, the two companies that currently have authorized COVID-19 vaccines in the US, have also both started trials for children, with older age groups.
In addition to the update, another COVID-related death was reported, along with 87 new cases. That brings the nationwide death toll to 367.
According to public health, the person who died is older than 70 and underlying health conditions.
They allegedly lived in the city of Santa Maria.
The province said a death is considered coronavirus-related when the health department receives a death certificate citing COVID-19 as the cause of death or a major contributing factor to death. The process can sometimes take several weeks to verify.
There are also currently 139 people in the hospital, 28 of whom are in the ICU.
As the federal government increases production, those with underlying health conditions between the ages of 16 to 64 will also be eligible to receive vaccinations by mid-March.
“In five weeks, we’re in the space where anyone who wants a vaccine can get one,” Do-Reynoso concluded.
Click here for a full listing of COVID-19 cases in Santa Barbara County.