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65+ LA County Residents Can Now Sign Up For Vaccine Appointments, If They Can Get The Website To Work
Screenshot from VaccinateLACounty.com
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Starting today, L.A. County residents 65 and older can book an appointment to get a COVID-19 vaccine, with slots open as early as Wednesday.
Appointments are available at the county's five "super sites," as well as at smaller distribution sites.
To sign up, eligible L.A. County residents should visit http://VaccinateLACounty.com or call 833-540-0473 between 8 a.m. and 8:30 p.m.
Residents 65+ are eligible to be vaccinated starting Wednesday, January 20th. Book your appointments by visiting https://t.co/UVkFi7cEUy. For additional assistance, call 833-540-0473 between 8:00 am and 8:30 pm. pic.twitter.com/t8uiFnruKO
— LA Public Health (@lapublichealth) January 19, 2021
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The expansion comes after county Board of Supervisors chair Hilda Solis signed an executive order to expand the pool of currently eligible vaccine candidates to that age group.
Just last week, county public health director Barbara Ferrer said health officials would not be able to offer vaccines to all seniors until vaccinations for essential health workers were complete — that wasn't expected to happen until early February at the earliest. L.A. County still has to vaccinate hundreds of thousands of health care workers.
Last week, Ferrer said she wished she could offer vaccines to more people, sooner, but the county simply did not have enough doses from the state and had requested more to no avail.
Mayor Garcetti and Gov. Newsom have said it's not California's fault; they place the blame on the federal government for not giving states enough vaccine doses, which is causing a logjam. President-elect Biden says he plans to fix that in his first 100 days.
Today Ferrer spoke about the new appointment system, cautioning that the vaccine supply is still limited, so appointment slots will only open a few days in advance:
"It will require patience, because we haven't received yet all of the doses that we'll need to vaccinate the priority groups. And we, too, are looking forward to a new administration and more transparency on how many doses will be available in the future."
Users have already complained that the appointment site isn't working properly or is down completely.
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Multiple attempts to sign up elicited error messages that the CalVax server – the site that allows users to actually book an appointment – was down.
Our COVID-19 vaccination hotline and website are fielding thousands of calls and users, and experiencing technical difficulties. We appreciate your patience as we work to fix these technical issues. pic.twitter.com/NaKCldaxY0
— Los Angeles County (@CountyofLA) January 19, 2021
If you're confused (as you should be) about all of this, we made a timeline:
If you're confused about vaccine rollout here's a handy timeline ~~~~
— LAist (@LAist) January 19, 2021
Jan 12: CDC recommends opening first tier of vaccine efforts to all seniors (65+).
Jan 13 morning: Gov. Newsom says cool, CA is gonna do that.
The county public health department is holding a town hall tonight at 6 p.m. We're sure they'll have plenty of questions to answer.
READ MORE ABOUT LOCAL VACCINATION PLANS:
- SoCal Residents: Here's How To Figure Out When And Where You Can Get The Vaccine
- LA Opens Dodger Stadium To Help Vaccinate Half A Million Health Workers
- Your No-Panic Guide To The COVID-19 Vaccines: Are They Safe, And When Can I Get Mine?
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