 Residents Aged 65+ Begin to Receive Their COVID-19 Vaccinations
County urges patience as vaccination doses are still in short supply
Since California authorized counties to provide COVID-19 vaccines to all individuals aged 65 and over, thousands of older residents in San Bernardino County have begun to receive their first dose or have made a reservation for a future appointment.
At this time, however, all available appointment times at County Public Health sites are full and the County is advising residents that a current shortage of vaccines will delay that effort. The County hosts a registration page on its vaccine website for County sites, hospitals, and pharmacies that are administering vaccinations.
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“While we are eager to focus vaccinations on older residents, we simply do not have enough doses to meet the needs of all 65 and over individuals in the county at this time,” said County Department of Health Director Corwin Porter. “We are focusing intensely on obtaining additional supplies and will move forward quickly when we receive them.” |
San Bernardino has been among the state’s most adept counties in its distribution of the vaccines, having administered or allocated some 82% of the 90,400 of the first-round doses it has received. The County has also allocated 88% of the 62,200 doses it has received.
Efforts to expand vaccination effort underway
While the County continues to vaccinate its most vulnerable individuals — namely frontline health care workers, along with staff and residents of long-term care facilities — it is also expanding operational and logistical procedures to ensure the process will proceed efficiently once the County obtains additional vaccines.
To start, there is a sign-up form on the County’s COVID-19 Vaccination website where 65 and over residents can register to receive vaccination news, including vaccination opportunities. In less than one week more than 22,000 seniors have signed up for these notifications.
Also, the County will soon announce community vaccination sites, including “super-site” events (see related story), and there are new partnerships secured and in the works with private pharmacies to distribute the vaccine, including Walgreens and Costco.
There currently are six County-run vaccination sites scheduling appointments for qualified individuals:
- ARMC Family Health Centers in San Bernardino and Rialto
- Hesperia Health Center
- Ontario Health Center
- San Bernardino Health Center
- County Human Resources Test Center (County employees only)
There are also currently more than 10 Vons, Sav-On, Rite-Aid and Ralph’s pharmacies serving as vaccination sites as well as six hospital sites. For more information see the Vaccine Locations & Registration link on the County’s COVID-19 Vaccination site.
Subscribe to the County Update to receive all news about the vaccine rollout in San Bernardino County.
County Conducts Training Exercise to Evaluate, Enhance Large-Scale Vaccination Procedures
To ensure its ability to effectively administer resident vaccinations and accurately transmit the resulting data to the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) database, the County conducted two, two-hour training and evaluation drills this past Saturday.
The evaluation exercise helped prepare more than 70 providers and staff to operate the County’s upcoming community vaccination sites, or Medical Points of Distribution (MPODs), and involved participants from the County’s Department of Public Health, Department of Behavioral Health, and the Fire Department’s Office of Emergency Services. They were specifically designed to evaluate the following:
- Ability of County residents to register for COVID-19 vaccinations;
- Ability of participants to upload vaccination data to the CDPH database;
- Ability of participants to implement the mandated 15-minute observation period; and
- Ability to integrate a video conferencing translation platform.
Emergency Managers from the cities of Rancho Cucamonga, Chino, Colton, and Loma Linda were part of the core planning team.
“As we continue to expand our vaccination program, our ability to implement it smoothly and efficiently is essential,” said Michael A. Ramirez, supervising emergency services officer for the San Bernardino County Fire Office of Emergency Services. “These simulations enable us to determine the effectiveness of our processes and identify any concerns that need to be addressed.”
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County workers participated in the two MPOD sessions, which were held at the RC Sports Center in Rancho Cucamonga. The exercise included 50 individuals who were actually given the vaccine. Participants were designated a variety of roles, such as “players,” “controllers,” “simulators,” and “actors;” non-participatory roles included “evaluators” and “observers.” |
The exercises were followed by a series of debriefing sessions, during which participants discussed effectiveness and potential areas of improvement. Participants were also given an opportunity to candidly discuss what they considered the strengths and weaknesses of the exercise.
“The MPOD exercises are a critical component to build our readiness and capacity to vaccinate more and more of our County residents,” said County Director of Public Health Corwin Porter. “It is especially important given we will soon be opening up more MPODs and vaccination supersites in the coming weeks.”
For more information on the County’s vaccination program, including the multi-phased allocation schedule proposed by the California Department of Public Health, please visit the vaccine page of the County COVID-19 website.
Sheriff McMahon Leads Vaccination Effort for Department
Citing the importance of the health of Sheriff Department personnel, San Bernardino County Sheriff-Coroner John McMahon released a letter and personal video sharing that the department has begun vaccinating its staff, beginning with health care professionals within the Sheriff’s Detentions and Corrections Bureau.
“I’ve made the decision to join many of our professional and sworn staff in getting vaccinated for COVID-19,” said Sheriff McMahon. “Our medical staff led the way … I’ve done my research … and I’ve decided it’s my best course of action to get vaccinated to protect myself as well as those that I come in contact with.”
 County Residents Can Volunteer to Assist in Vaccination Effort
As San Bernardino County continues to work on its fight to eradicate COVID-19, we are working with public health officials, health care professionals, private companies, and members of the community to build our vaccination teams.
We are also looking for interested individuals with a wide range of skills as well as large organizations to join a dedicated team providing critical COVID-19 vaccinations to our community. A range of skills are needed for this effort.
The County Human Resources department has created a new webpage at https://hr.sbcounty.gov/volunteerhub/ that shares opportunities for individuals or organizations to get involved in the vaccination effort. There are both medical and non-medical positions for interested volunteers, and an application process that includes a background check.
Groups and organizations, including schools, also have the opportunity to join the effort, as well as any licensed providers that might want to begin administering the vaccine. The webpage also has a tab with paid/temporary job listings.
Sheriff Update on Inmates and Employees Testing Positive for COVID
A total of 921 County jail inmates have tested positive for COVID-19. Many of the inmates are only experiencing minor symptoms of the virus. The infected inmates are in isolation, being monitored around the clock, and are being provided with medical treatment. A total of 830 inmates have recovered from the illness.
A total of 928 department employees have tested positive for COVID-19 and are self-isolating at home; 820 employees have recovered from the virus. Other employees are expected to return to work in the next few weeks. It is unknown when or where the employees were infected with the virus. The department continues to encourage all department members to heed the warnings of health officials.
Latest Stats
256,914 Confirmed Cases (up 0.3% from the previous day)
1,560 Deaths (up 0% from the previous day)
2,037,146 Tests (up 0.4% from the previous day)
Current Southern California ICU Capacity: 0% (Goal to lift State Stay-at-Home Order: 15%)
For more statistics from the COVID-19 Surveillance Dashboard, click the desktop or mobile
tab on the County’s sbcovid19.com website.
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