The first batches of COVID-19 vaccines have been given mainly to health professionals, but a large group of community members could gain access next week: people over the age of 65.
Santa Barbara County is following California’s tiered vaccine distribution system and is on the verge of ending the first priority groups of health workers, medical workers, and staff and residents of long-term care facilities such as skilled nursing homes.
“We expect to double all hands on deck this week so that we can complete phase 1a,” Health Director Van Do-Reynoso told the Supervisory Board this week.
Residents 75 and older are the next eligible group, but the state decided this week to extend that to everyone 65 and older.
That’s a much larger group, and it’s much earlier than public health expected, Do-Reynoso told Noozhawk on Wednesday.
“The age will come before essential workers (when assigning the vaccine) unless you’ve already registered them and made them arrangements,” Do-Reynoso said.
“That’s who shows up in our hospitals and that’s who unfortunately has very serious to fatal consequences.”
So far, eligible people have been found in a top-down approach through their employers or the municipal facilities where they live.
For future groups, the county will need to work with health care providers and community groups to notify people that they are eligible and how to make vaccination appointments for both doses.
A Lompoc Valley Medical Center employee holds up a vial of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine. (Photo Lompoc Valley Medical Center)
The county plans to offer online appointment registration, interact directly with eligible people through healthcare providers and use call centers.
“The 2-1-1 call centers will be able to register appointments, and this includes people who do not have access to online platforms or who do not have access to them linguistically,” she said.
When access is opened to all adults, which is expected “sometime this spring,” the county plans to set up massive vaccination clinics and outreach campaigns to spread the word, she said.
There will likely be drive-through sites, walk-up sites, and appointment-only sites all over the county, and mobile vaccination clinics for those who do not have access to the main sites.
The Public Health Department is already asking partners in the local health care system to provide staff to staff those massive vaccination communities.
“We cannot be alone to vaccinate our country en masse; it must be everyone, ”said Do-Reynoso.
Do-Reynoso emphasized that the vaccination distribution process is dynamic and policy decisions are rolling in every day from the state and federal governments.
The province has a website with vaccine information at https://publichealthsbc.org/vaccine/.
The vaccine distribution levels and estimated timeline
The province requests and receives an order of vaccines every week, and keeps a few to vaccinate people through its clinics. It allocates the most doses to a network of vaccine providers: hospitals, community clinics, medical offices and pharmacies.
The state and province have a priority system of stages and levels, as supplies are limited.
(Photo from Santa Barbara County Public Health Department)
It is based on the idea of giving the first vaccinations to people likely to be exposed to the virus at work (essential workers, including those in healthcare) and people likely to become seriously ill (the elderly and those with serious medical conditions) .
The idea was to complete one level at a time and move on to the next.
However, that system created bottlenecks as hospitals and clinics were given extra doses and not authorized people to give them.
California opened it this week, creating a larger pool of eligible people, and the county therefore expects faster vaccinations.
“I think we were paralyzed for a while because of the rigorous tiering system,” said Do-Reynoso.
California officials decided on Wednesday that instead of vaccinating residents 75 and older in the next group, they should be 65 and older – a much larger pool of eligible people.
The direction to use each dose also leads to situations where some providers are ahead of others.
The Lompoc Valley Medical Center announced on Wednesday that it will vaccinate some of its own patients 75 or older. The center had already vaccinated all of its patient-focused staff and vendors and needed additional doses to use, Do-Reynoso said.
Do-Reynoso admitted that the public health department had not been notified that LVMC would announce the move, saying it would have been nice to better coordinate it.
The county has received many calls from older adults saying most of it is not fair to non-Lompoc residents, she said.
“So what we’re saying is that what Lompoc is doing right now could be interpreted as making the most of the vaccine that’s been assigned to them,” she said. ‘We don’t want it to languish in the fridge or go to waste.
“For those who are unfortunately not in the care network, who are 75, the Public Health Department may be expanding to 75-year-olds as early as next week.”
Patient-focused health professionals are currently eligible for the vaccine and can sign up for appointments through the provincial website here.
“Right now, people who provide direct patient care or work in patient care areas are eligible,” not people who work from home, the province said.
(Photo from Santa Barbara County Public Health Department)
Cottage Health organizes a drive-up vaccination clinic at Goleta Valley Cottage Hospital for eligible health professionals who live or work in Santa Barbara County on Fridays and Saturdays. The website has more information and a pre-registration form.
Under the current schedule, people 65 and older are expected to be eligible from next week.
In February and March, this will expand to people at risk of exposure at work in fields such as:
“Education
“Day-care
“Emergency services
»Food / grocery and agriculture
“Transport and logistics
»Industrial, commercial, residential and sheltered facilities and services
»Critical production
»Get together to set up shelters and detention centers
After that, there are people over the age of 60 and people with underlying health conditions or disabilities that increase their risk of severe COVID-19 if they are infected.
Also those at risk of workplace exposure in the following sectors:
»Water and waste water
“Defense
“Energy
»Chemical and hazardous materials
»Communication and IT
“Financial services
»Government operations / community-based essential functions
As Do-Reynoso said, the province expects to open massive vaccination clinics sometime this spring.
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