L.A. County launches effort with 3.5 million more local residents seeking their shots

Four months after coronavirus vaccinations began in California, eligibility expanded Thursday to everyone in the state ages 16 and older, signaling that future supplies can be counted on over coming weeks get shots into the arms of everyone in the state who wants one.

Anyone living or working in L.A. County 16 and older can schedule vaccination appointments on the MyTurn website. Residents ages 16 and 17 can receive only the Pfizer vaccine, according to county officials, and should sign up at a site that offers that vaccine. Minors must be accompanied by a parent or guardian.

Vaccinators across the state to date have administered some 24 million doses, far outpacing other states and many other countries, Gov. Gavin Newsom said Thursday at a Bay Area clinic, and though eligibility has opened to its widest point, half the eligible population in California already has received at least one dose.

“April 15 in 2021 in the state of California is not ‘Tax Day,’ it’s ‘Vax Day,’ ” Newsom said.

“While it is true that we had a temporary setback with one of the approved vaccines; (Johnson & Johnson shots) represent just 4% of our weekly dose administration,” he said, adding that Pfizer and Moderna doses will be able to make up that difference in the near term.

The only constraint in administering more shots is manufactured supply, Newsom said.

“We are looking forward to getting more vaccines in more arms for one fundamental reason: it saves lives,” Newsom said.

“These vaccines are safe; these vaccines are effective; these vac

cines will get our kids safely back, in person, in school. These vaccines will quickly and safely get our economy moving again in a sustainable way.”

In L.A. County, there are an estimated 5 million people in the newly eligible group ages 16-49, but about 1.5 million of them already have received at least one shot because they were eligible in other categories, according to Department of Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer.

The expansion means getting an appointment for a vaccination could get tougher as those millions of newly eligible people try to get shots.

As they have with every major expansion of eligibility, health officials urged people to be patient as they negotiation the appointment system.

To ensure those who were already eligible and most vulnerable to illness from the coronavirus, the county is striving to allocate more than 70% of this week’s doses to vaccine providers located or administering doses in the hardest hit communities.

“We have reached a good place and time when every resident or worker 16 years old and older is eligible to get vaccinated,” Ferrer said Wednesday. “Given additional reopenings and increased activities where large numbers of people are intermingling, vaccines provide very powerful protection that help us reduce community transmission, hospitalizations and deaths from COVID-19.”

“Every time we’ve expanded eligibility, we have to be very mindful of making sure that we remain committed to increasing capability and accessibility of the vaccine in hardest-hit communities,” Ferrer said.

The county has stepped up its efforts to get vaccinations to people experiencing homeless ness. There are now 121 providers inoculating homeless people, Ferrer said, twice as many as last week.

More than 13,600 doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered to homeless people so far, she added, and at least 1,907 were second doses.

Coronavirus cases among people experiencing homelessness in Los Angeles County are down to 117 this week, dropping from the peak of 672 weekly cases health officials reported in late December during the winter surge, public health officials reported Thursday.

This week’s count includes 58 cases from previous weeks that were newly identified as cases associated with people experiencing homelessness.

There are a total of 6,994 cases reported for people experiencing homelessness in Los Angeles County, 205 of whom have died. Of those who lost their lives, 93 people were sheltered, 67 were unsheltered and the shelter status is unknown for the remaining 45 people.

Overall, Public Health officials reported 23 new deaths and 613 new cases of COVID-19 in the county Thursday, bringing the total lives lost to 23,569, and overall positive cases to 1,227,514.

According to a state dashboard, there are 512 people hospitalized with the disease in the county, down by six from the previous day, with 123 in intensive care.

Among cities operating their own health departments: Pasadena’s four new cases raised its total to 11,186; its death toll increased by one, to 340. Three new fatalities in Long Beach raised its death toll to 926; 19 cases increased the city’s total to 52,582.

Also Thursday, the county launched more orange tier reopenings, allowing indoor seated live events and performances, as well as private events such as meetings, conferences and receptions.

Audiences will be limited and masks, social distancing and other safety requirements will remain in place.

State leaders expect to lift all pandemic-induced closures, social distancing rules and capacity limits at businesses and public places across California starting June 15, though the state’s mask mandate will stay in place as a precaution.