More shot dates open than there is demand

Trend opposite of January when requests for doses outpaced appointment slots

In a reversal from January’s coronavirus vaccine rollout, Riverside County has more open vaccine appointments than demand for shots, officials said Tuesday.

Also, 19.3% of all county residents, including 60.7% of those 65 and older, have received at least one of the two vaccine doses recommended for full protection, while 10.7% of county residents and 38.4% of older residents have been fully vaccinated, Director of Public Health Kim Saruwatari told the Board of Supervisors.

Almost 821,000 vaccine doses have been given in the county, Saruwatari added.

Vaccine doses are available to county residents 65 and older and 18- to 64-year-olds with health conditions — cancer and severe obesity, for example — that make them especially vulnerable to severe illness or death from COVID-19.

Those also eligible include people living in congregate settings, health care workers, first responders, disaster service workers, teachers, restaurant, agricultural and food workers, janitors, public transit workers and the homeless.

homeless.

When Riverside County started offering vaccine appointments in January, tens of thousands of slots were claimed, sometimes in less than 40 minutes. Many others complained of being unable to book an appointment through the county website or its 211 phone line.

The county also struggled with high demand for a limited number of vaccine doses. In February, officials said Riverside County received fewer doses per capita than similar-sized California counties because those counties had more residents eligible for vaccination at the time.

“The good news is that the vaccine supply is improving overall,” Dr. Geoffrey Leung, who later Tuesday was named county public health officer, told supervisors Tuesday.

Twelve mass vaccination sites are open five days a week, six mobile teams offer the vaccine, and doses are available in the county through a network of “community providers,” including Rite Aid, CVS, Walgreens and Walmart, that are getting doses through the federal government, Leung said.

“We seem to be shifting a little bit in that previously, we had an undersupply of vaccine compared to the demand,” Leung said. “And presently, we actually have more appointment slots for both community vaccine providers and for the mass vaccination sites than we have demand.”

Despite the available appointments, adults who aren’t eligible for the vaccine will still have to wait, said county spokeswoman Brooke Federico.

“If someone cannot prove eligibility or affirm they have underlying health conditions, they will not be able to get their vaccine,” she said via a text message.

As for when ineligible adults might be able to get the vaccine, Federico said that’s up to the state.

“We’re going as quickly as the state allows,” she said.

Officials believe at least half of the county’s population is eligible for the vaccine, Leung added.

Appointments at a county-run vaccination site can be made by going to www.rivcoph.org/COVID19-Vaccine.

Those 65 and older or who need help booking an appointment can call 211 or 951-329-4703.

An appointment and ID is required to be vaccinated. Workers in eligible categories also need a worker ID badge or a letter from their employer.