SANTA BARBARA COUNTY, Calif .– Santa Barbara County Public Health has announced that they will be eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine for people over 65 starting Tuesday, Feb. 16.
Until now, vaccines could only be distributed to key workers and people 75 and older.
“Challenges with the introduction of the vaccine had caused fear and frustration in many residents,” said public health official Henning Ansorg.
The announcement was made during the county’s weekly coronavirus newsletter on Zoom.
With an average of 6,000 doses coming in each week, Santa Barbara County still can’t begin to vaccinate individual industry populations.
This includes:
“Even though we move to the age of 65,” said public health director Van Do-Reynoso. “We are still very limited in the number of vaccines we receive as a province.”
“These difficult first two months could have been advertised if the government had indeed secured and shipped the number of doses they had promised,” Ansorg added.
Dr. Anthony Fauci also announced on Friday that he expects the general public to have access to COVID-19 vaccines sometime in April, with most Americans vaccinated in mid- or late summer.
“I imagine that by the time we get to April, that will be what I’d be asking for, you know, for better wording, open season,” Fauci said. “Namely, almost anyone and everyone in any category could get vaccinated.”
Pfizer and Moderna, the two companies that currently have COVID-19 vaccines authorized in the US, have also both begun studies for children, starting with older age groups.
In addition to the update, another COVID-related death was reported, along with 87 new cases. This brings the death toll nationwide to 367.
According to public health, the deceased person was over 70 years old and had underlying health problems.
They reportedly lived in the town of Santa Maria.
The province said a death is considered coronavirus-related when the health department receives a death certificate listing COVID-19 as the cause of death or a major contributing factor in the death. The process can sometimes take several weeks to verify.
There are also 139 people currently hospitalized, 28 of whom are in the ICU.
As the federal government ramps up production, people with underlying health problems between the ages of 16 and 64 will also be eligible for vaccinations by mid-March.
“In five weeks, we’ll be in that room where anyone who wants a vaccine can get one,” concludes Do-Reynoso.
For a full listing of COVID-19 cases in Santa Barbara County, click here.