Officials from the Governors’ Office for Emergency Services announced Wednesday that immediate appointments are available for vaccines at the federal site in Cal State LA, regardless of suitability.
But by 9 a.m. Thursday morning, that had all changed and people were being turned away.
The OES told Eyewitness News that appointments for qualifying people are full overnight. This means that those who were not 18-50 years old could not receive a vaccine as previously thought. This is an issue that the site has not experienced all week.
Many who went to the site with the relief that they could get their chance quickly became frustrated.
“We were now waiting about an hour in line … a little more, a lot of people were already,” said Dan Marcus of Studio City. ‘(We were told) it’s good to get in here. We appear in the queue and now they say we have to make appointments and we are not eligible for the shot. ‘
The situation on Thursday is a stark contrast to Wednesday when people arrived without any problems.
“Oh, the process was great, my best, it was so fast,” Anthony Marquez said. “(I) got in line at 16:44 and was on my way home at 17:22.”
Officials say they will prefer appointments made through the state’s website, My Turn.
Before the appointments were quickly filled, the director of public health in LA County said it was likely due to scheduling issues, and not a sign of dwindling demand.
Barbara Ferrer also said that even if there are suddenly big appointments available, it does not mean that the province should immediately extend the election to everyone aged 16 and older, which is scheduled for April 15.
“There are 5.5 million people in (currently) eligible groups, and not everyone has received their first dose,” Ferrer said. ‘… We only opened to people 50 and older a few days ago, so we’re going to continue to make sure there’s good access. ‘
LA Province officials insist on vaccination before COVID-19 variants gain traction
The provincial department of public health even announced online the availability of vaccinations for Thursday at the vaccination sites operated in the province, most notably the large-scale site at Six Flags Magic Mountain.
But Ferrer noted that appointment slots often open in waves, as websites cannot list available appointments until they are sure of their dosages.
‘One of the dilemmas here is that we’re still struggling to release appointments ahead of time, and many of us are really still only able to release appointments a few days ahead of time when people can go and get vaccinated. , ” she said. “We’re trying really hard to get a smoother forecast.”
Often when people go online and find a myriad of available slots, “it’s because someone just opened up a number of appointments,” Ferrer said.
She said health officials are monitoring the activity at the various vaccination sites, and if the appointments are not filled, capacity will be increased elsewhere with greater demand. She said the province was “investigating what could explain why we are more available this week”, but she said the vaccine doses would not be unused. seven days.
“The goal here is always, and we’ve been wonderful about this … to get vaccinated in people’s arms within a period of seven days, and we never transmit a vaccine one week to the next,” she said. said. said. “And we always achieved that goal.” ‘
She said she would not reverse this trend this week, despite a sudden increase in the availability of appointments.
“Until we start experiencing a problem this week with the fact that we’re filling appointments the rest of the week, I would say we’re in a pretty good way of making sure the doses are administered,” she said.
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