Citrus College Director of Human Resources Robert Sammis issued a memo to the campus community on Jan. 26 exploring the likelihood of whether the campus should become a vaccination site.
In order for Citrus to become a vaccination site, it would not only have to enroll in the federal COVID-19 Vaccination Program, but also follow complex rules and regulations such as emergency management of adverse reactions, record-keeping and waste and disposal.
“Currently, the college does not have the capability to meet all requirements to be a vaccination site,” Sammis said.
The major issue at hand is still the number of vaccines available for use.
“In conversation with the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, we have been told that the current issue is not a limited number of vaccination sites but the extremely limited availability of the vaccine,” Sammis said.
The people being vaccinated are mainly over 65 years old and essential healthcare workers. As of Feb. 25, 1.9 million doses of the vaccine have been issued.
According to the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, education and childcare workers and food and agriculture workers residing in L.A. County are eligible to be vaccinated as of March 1 under Tier 1 Phase 1B. This creates an additional million people in line to be vaccinated.
“Even if the college were able to become a vaccination site, it would be unable to focus exclusively on employees and students; rather, the vaccination site would have to open to anyone in the current tier approved for a vaccination,” Sammis said.
Although Citrus employees are now eligible to get vaccinated under phase 1B, the number of vaccines available are still very limited.
“Bear in mind that vaccination parameters may very well change over the next few weeks and months, primarily due to the desire to get as many people vaccinated and the reality of a severely limited vaccine supply,” Sammis said in the memo.
Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine has been released and is beginning to be dispersed among Americans with President Biden’s help in increasing the supply. He invoked the Defense Production Act, expediting materials to assist in vaccine production.
“An administration official said Johnson & Johnson’s latest goal is to produce 94 million doses of its single-shot vaccine by the end of May — that is about 7 million doses ahead of the schedule in its contract, which calls for delivery of 87 million doses by the end of May and the full 100 million by the end of June,” an article by Christopher Rowland and Laurie McGinley of the Washington Post said on March 3.
The J&J vaccine is a single dose vaccine and does not require the level of refrigeration the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines require, making access and distribution easier.
“Unlike the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines, it can be stored for up to three months at regular refrigerator temperatures, so it’s easier to distribute to more places. And you’re fully vaccinated after just one dose,” Maria Godoy of NPR said on March 4.
The Center for Disease Control’s website has the most up to date information for the latest and most accurate information on COVID-19 vaccinations.
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/index.html
