CALIFORNIA
California health organizations to stage mass vaccination ‘hubs’
The sites will expand access to COVID-19 vaccines, with the goal of accelerating vaccination, especially among the state’s most vulnerable populations.
Health organizations in California are joining together in an unprecedented effort to vaccinate their members and the general public using a network of COVID-19 mass vaccination hubs throughout the state.
The consortium, initiated by Kaiser Permanente, includes Adventist Health, the California Medical Association, Dignity Health, and Futuro Health. California Primary Care Association will also be working with the consortium to ensure broad equitable access to the sites through its member federally qualified community health centers. In addition, the American Red Cross has provided its expertise on mass site planning.
The first two vaccination hubs are expected to open at Cal Poly Pomona and Moscone Center in San Francisco on February 5. Establishment of the hubs is aimed at accelerating vaccination of vulnerable individuals as prioritized by the California Department of Public Health, especially those 75 years and older.
The hubs will offer vaccinations by appointment only, seven days a week, as long as supply is available. Each site will start on Friday at a lower capacity, ramping up volume as site operations are refined over the weekend, and continuing to increase next week. Each site will have the capacity of administering up to 10,000 doses per day, depending on supply. The success of these hubs will be highly dependent on the available supply of vaccine.
Kaiser Permanente members and patients who use other providers in the consortium can seek vaccination appointments at the hubs, along with the general public. Kaiser Permanente members can also continue getting vaccinated as part of the organization’s direct outreach. Members will be notified when an appointment is available for them at a Kaiser Permanente facility, with the current focus on outreach to people 75 and over, and then on to 65-and-over as vaccine supply allows.
“We want to acknowledge and thank the state for making additional vaccine available, which has made it possible to open this site for the community and our members. We are also grateful to the state for providing additional vaccine to allow us to increase our appointments for our members in our medical centers,” said Greg Adams, chairman and CEO of Kaiser Permanente.
“Futuro Health is pleased to mobilize students, faculty, and alumni of allied health and nursing programs in support of this effort,” said Van Ton-Quinlivan, CEO of Futuro Health, a non-profit organization founded by Kaiser Permanente and SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West to address the shortage in the allied health workforce. “This mass vaccination creates opportunity for students to help out and engage in direct patient care, gaining clinical hours required for licensure which has been so difficult to obtain during the pandemic. We need to ensure we have the next generation of workers to deliver care.”
Available appointments at the consortium’s vaccination hubs can be scheduled at California’s MyTurn vaccine scheduling website https://myturn.ca.gov/
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UKIAH
Prescribed Burn Notification: Lake County’s Black Forest – continuing this weekend
The Bureau of Land Management Ukiah Field Office started burning piles on approximately 18 acres on the north facing slop of Mt. Konocti in Lake County today, Friday, Feb. 5, 2021, and will continue doing so pending air quality, resource availability, updated weather forecasts and on-site observations. The piles were created while cutting a shaded fuel break in the Black Forest.
Smoke may be visible from the communities of Riviera West and Soda Bay and along Soda Bay Road in Kelseyville, California. Prescribe burn activities like these reduce the available fuel loads that can feed wildland fire. Please contact us with questions or concerns.
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