Alert South Bay: Regional Message on COVID-19 Threat – Key Messages

February 12, 2021

On February 11, 2021, the CDC updated their guidance for individuals who have been fully vaccinated. Individuals who have both vaccine doses will no longer be required to quarantine following exposure to someone with COVID-19, including travel quarantine requirements in the United States if they meet the following criteria:

• Are fully vaccinated (i.e., ≥2 weeks following receipt of the second dose in a 2-dose series, or ≥2 weeks following receipt of one dose of a single-dose vaccine).
• Are within 3 months following receipt of the last dose in the series
• Have remained asymptomatic since the current COVID-19 exposure

*Although the CDC recently updated guidance for individuals who have been fully vaccinated regarding quarantine and travel, the State of California and Los Angeles County Department of Public Health have not updated quarantine and travel guidance. Please be sure to continue following local Health Orders. Quarantine after travel and exposure is still required in LA County for ten days.

VACCINE INFORMATION AND ALLOCATION

Vaccines continue to be extremely limited and allocation distribution in California and LA County remains very low. If you are eligible to make an appointment PLEASE only make ONE appointment. Do not make multiple appointments as the vaccines are held for each appointment slot. This results in many people unable to get appointments and potentially wasted vaccine. If you are unable to make your appointment, please cancel the appointment to allow for others to make appointments.

Vaccines are made available, sometimes at a moment’s notice. Please take a moment to register for the LA County newsletter to get notified of available appointments by clicking here.

Vaccine Allocation

The allocations for each county come from the State. Once a week, the federal government announces anticipated allocation figures for each State. The number of allocated doses provided by the federal government is a projection and subject to change. Local providers must place their orders, which the State reviews and submits to the federal government. The federal government then authorizes the order and submits the request to the manufacturer. The manufacturer or central distributor ships the vaccine directly to local providers. It can take a week or longer for allocation by the federal government to arrive. Unfortunately, we are dealing with unpredictable vaccine allocations, as vaccine supply is limited at the Federal level. We don’t get much advance notification on how may doses we will receive on a week-to-week basis.

Vaccination Sites (as of 2/12/21)

The following LA County vaccine sites remain open for those 65 yrs and older and healthcare workers due for second doses at these specific sites only:
• Pomona Fairplex (Pfizer)
• The Forum (Pfizer)
• Cal State Northridge (Pfizer)
• Magic Mountain (Pfizer)
• LA County Office of Education (Pfizer)
• Balboa Sports Complex (Moderna)
• El Sereno Recreation Center (Moderna)

LA County is still in Tier 1A and Tier 1B which includes:
• Healthcare workers (HCWs) at high and moderate risk exposure to the COVID-19 virus through their work in any role in health care or long-term care settings. High and moderate risk means the HCW has direct or indirect contact with patients or infectious materials (Phase 1A)
• Long-term care facility residents (Phase 1A)
• Persons age 65 and over (Phase 1B Tier 1)

You can make an appointment to be vaccinated by visiting http://publichealth.lacounty.gov/acd/ncorona2019/vaccine/hcwsignup/ if you are in one of the groups listed above. Residents who don’t have computer access may call (833) 540-0473 between 8 a.m. and 8:30 p.m. or 2-1-1 for assistance with appointments.

DO NOT REGISTER FOR AN APPOINTMENT IF YOU ARE NOT IN AN ELIGIBLE GROUP. Doing so will take an appointment slot away from those at the highest risk, and you will be turned away without proper documentation of your eligibility.

To find out when you will be eligible for a vaccine appointment, visit https://covid19.ca.gov/vaccines/#When-can-I-get-vaccinated.