Shot smoother than expected

COMMENTARY /// COVID-19 vaccination



ON TARGET—The author gets his coronavirus vaccine at CSUN. Courtesy photo

ON TARGET—The author gets his coronavirus vaccine at CSUN. Courtesy photo

Although a frustrated public continues to bemoan lack of supply and impossible to get reservations, the COVID-19 vaccination system set up at the mega-pod site nearest to our local area, at Cal State Northridge, couldn’t be running smoother.

A personal visit to the campus midday on Monday revealed a seamless operation and very few cars waiting in line. Multiple entry lanes off Plummer Street lined with bright orange cones and refrigerator trailers to keep the Pfizer vaccine chilled, funneled the cars ahead to health workers and assistants, who checked personal information such as age and address, and delivered the shots.

After receiving the first of my two Pfizer doses, I was required to wait 15 minutes before departing the campus in case of an adverse reaction. The whole process took less than a half-hour from beginning to end, hardly the nightmare depicted by nightly news with its steady drumbeat of long lines and crowded parking lots.

That’s not to say the system is trouble-free.

How I even got a reservation was a case of blind luck.

The Los Angeles County Public Health information and reservation website at VaccinateLACounty.com, along with the statewide online eligibility notification tool, My Turn, is designed to notify residents when it’s their turn to bat. But most people already know that in L.A. County, all residents over 65 are eligible to be immunized. The problem is booking an appointment.

When the county’s first set of reservations opened last month the dates were gobbled up in an instant. Until the vaccine becomes available at pharmacies and doctors’ offices, local residents are advised that the best thing they can do is to keep checking online regularly for future dates to open.

Who has the time for that?

On Sat., Jan. 30 more dates did open up, but only by chance was I able to book one after seeing a public health tweet that heralded a set of new appointments through Feb. 7. Within 24 hours the dates were gobbled up like delicious morsels.

New vaccine supplies arrive regularly, however, and future opportunities will knock. Everyone’s turn will come.

“We are currently receiving, on average, 150,000 vaccine doses per week, so we ask the public to be patient as we do our best to meet the needs with limited supply,” county public health director Barbara Ferrer said.

Healthcare workers, residents at long-term care facilities and all people age 65 and older comprise the 2-million-person L.A. County cohort currently eligible to receive the two-dose, Pfizer and Moderna vaccine at six large capacity sites across the region.

With some 800,000 doses already delivered, you can see the undertaking has been huge, but the system is working.

Sheldon Lefkowitz, an Agoura Hills senior like me who was able to crack the code and get a vaccine, told me about his CSUN experience.

“They must have had 100 people working this site,” Lefkowitz said.

“We rolled in and there were workers directing traffic to multiple lanes. Cars moved regularly down the line. At each step someone came over, smiling, and performed some task. Got the shot, did the 15 minute wait and was out.

“Whoever put this together deserves a medal,” he said.

The arm ache that lasted until the next day, notwithstanding.

California’s transition to a more centralized vaccination setup should help things down the road. The state-run system will be administered by Blue Shield and allows for more direct distribution to a California-wide network of vaccine providers, including L.A. Public Health.

Also, starting Feb. 11, CVS in Agoura Hills will join a select number of CVS pharmacies in the Southland to offer the COVID-19 shot. Registration will take place at cvs.com.

Time to roll up the sleeves and really get busy.

John Loesing is managing editor of the Acorn Newspapers. He hopes to remain COVID-free.