Everyone in California 16 and older can now book COVID-19 vaccine appointments on the state’s My My appointment system. The changes to the system went into effect Wednesday night.
In Southern California, residents of Orange and Ventura, ages 16 and older have just been eligible to discuss vaccinations through My Turn. Los Angeles, San Diego, Riverside, San Bernardino, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo and Imperial counties all considered 16 and older.
My Turn officials said the online system can handle up to 300,000 transactions per hour, and that they expect it to handle demand.
Officials unveiled a new version of the My Turn website on Wednesday night with the new suitability and are adding language support in Arabic and Persian for the first time. People can also make telephone appointments at (833) 422-4255, with language support for more than 200 languages.
Authorities have advised residents’ patience to address it, suggesting it will take a while for anyone wanting a vaccine to get one.
The My Turn website is an attempt by the state to create a main gateway to find and plan appointments, but sometimes not all available appointments appear in the My Turn system. Alternative ways to book appointments include healthcare providers, such as Kaiser, and pharmacies that offer vaccines, such as CVS, Ralphs, Rite Aid, Walgreens, Costco, and Albertsons / Vons / Safeway / Pavilions; some of the vaccine providers also increased the right to book appointments on Wednesday night.
The city of Los Angeles has a separate vaccination portal, operated by Carbon Health, that is not integrated into the My Turn system.
All vaccines are free to anyone living in the US, regardless of immigration or health insurance status.
Officials were optimistic that the explosion of the vaccine would not be affected too much by the recommended national disruption of the distribution of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
The state epidemiologist dr. Erica Pan, said less than 4% of California’s vaccine system this week from the federal government – 67,600 out of about 2 million doses – comes from Johnson & Johnson. Modern and Pfizer are still the majority.
Nearly 24 million doses were administered throughout the state, and nearly 29% of the population were fully vaccinated. While the state is eligible for all residents aged 16 and older on Thursday, many in that age group have already been given a chance. In LA County, where nearly 2 million residents are fully vaccinated, approximately 1.5 million residents aged 16 to 49 years receive at least one dose. This is more than a third of the subset.
Of the 19,600 Johnson & Johnson vaccine appointments scheduled for Los Angeles County this week, Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said about 13,670 were booked for Pfizer-BioNtech or Moderna appointments.
However, the disruption affected several mobile teams across the country, regularly vaccinating people during a one-day event. The single-shot dose was key to the state’s distribution strategy to reach communities hardest hit by COVID-19, as well as residents who are reluctant, less mobile or disabled.
The break regarding the Johnson & Johnson vaccine was recommended because federal officials are investigating six cases involving women aged 18 to 48, who developed a rare blood clot between six and 13 days after receiving the vaccine. One death has been reported.
Of the more than 194 million COVID-19 vaccine doses administered nationally, just over 7 million were from the Johnson & Johnson shot. More than 100 million doses of Pfizer have been administered, and more than 86 million of the Moderna shot.
The occurrence of the reported blood clots is extremely rare – it not only involves a blood clot that prevents blood from draining from the brain known as cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST), but it occurs in combination with a low shallow platelets, known as thrombocytopenia. The reports are similar to rare reports of blood clots seen in Europe after vaccination with the AstraZeneca vaccine, which was not approved in the US.
Officials said one reason for issuing the break was to notify hospitals to be alert to these rare types of complications. A more common blood clot is usually treated with a blood-thinning agent called heparin, but the use of heparin to treat the rare blood clot released on Tuesday can be dangerous. Alternative treatments should be given, preferably by a physician experienced in the treatment of blood clots.
Doctors, if they encounter people with low blood platelets or if they see people who have blood clots, should inquire about the history of recent vaccination, “and then act accordingly in the diagnosis and treatment of those individuals,” said Dr. Peter Marks, director of the Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Biological Evaluation and Research, said this week.
Anyone who received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine more than a month ago has an extremely low risk of developing this type of blood clot. For those who have received the vaccine in the past few weeks, it is probably rare to get such a blood clot, said Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said Wednesday.
Symptoms of this type of rare blood clot include severe headache, leg pain, abdominal pain or shortness of breath. They need a visit to the emergency room.
The Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca vaccines use a similar method to elicit an immune response to the coronavirus. One possible reason for the rare blood clots may be related to the vaccine that elicits an immune response that causes platelets to be activated, which can cause blood clots, Marks said.
The other two approved vaccines in the US, manufactured by Pfizer and Moderna, use a different method to elicit an immune response. “We do not see these events with the other two vaccines – with Pfizer and Moderna,” Walensky said.
“We believe these events are extremely rare, but we are also not yet sure we have heard about all possible cases, as this syndrome cannot be easily recognized as one associated with the vaccine,” Walensky said. “CDC and FDA are working quickly to investigate each case and understand whether there is a causal link between these blood clots and the administration of vaccines.”
The CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) held an emergency meeting on Wednesday to discuss the vaccine, but did not vote on new recommendations. Referring to the need for more information, the committee is likely to meet again in seven to ten days.
‘We are committed to following science and to ensuring complete transparency while conducting this investigation. If we promise, we’ll tell you what we know if we know it, ‘Walensky said.
California’s cumulative COVID-19 mortality rate was above 60,000 this week. It exceeded 560,000 nationally. More than 700 COVID-19 deaths have been reported daily in the US on average daily in the past week, 7% higher than the previous week.