Can L.A. bureaucracy pull off distributing COVID-19 vaccine? - Los Angeles Times

It’s shaping up to be the largest and most complex public health effort in the county’s history, and concerns are growing that officials are falling behind.

Distributing the vaccine in a safe and equitable manner is an even more vital task, and some officials have already expressed their concerns.

County Supervisor Janice Hahn recently called the county’s preliminary plans “too vague.” She said they failed to address key logistical issues, such as how the county would store the Pfizer vaccine, which must be kept at minus 70 C.

Supervisor Sheila Kuehl wondered how logistically the county would keep doses of the vaccine cold enough to transport.

Public health officials say if L.A.

to really be ready,” Hahn told Los Angeles County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer at a recent board meeting.

Jeffrey Gunzenhauser, Los Angeles County chief medical officer, said a 35-year-old with no health risks who isn’t an essential worker probably won’t be able to get a vaccine until at least spring of next year.

The latest maps and charts on the spread of COVID-19 in Los Angeles County, including cases, deaths, closures and restrictions.

“I could be wrong — maybe more vaccine will be available — and it could very well be that people don’t want to take the vaccine, so we might expand it to other groups if we have more supply,” Gunzenhauser said.

Eventually, the vaccine will be widely available to any resident, but county officials are still grappling with how to make them most accessible.

Solis has asked public health officials to explore using libraries, senior centers and clinics in underserved communities.

Some of the first doses of vaccine are expected to be stored at Cedars Sinai Medical Center.

The hospital was one of a handful of healthcare facilities designated by the state to receive early vaccine shipments because of its cold-storage capacity, the county public health department said.

The federal government has placed an initial order with Pfizer for 100 million doses, and under the agreement, can acquire up to an additional 500 million doses.

Because the Pfizer vaccine requires an ultra-cold temperature “cold chain” — a precise planning process that ensures it’s kept at a specific temperature while transported and stored — the county’s Department of Public Health is buying five ultra-cold freezers in addition to three from the state, which will be placed strategically across the county.

The freezers, purchased with $55,000 from the county’s federal coronavirus relief money, are expected to arrive by December.

A separate agency, the county Department of Health Services, recently received eight freezers it ordered to store the Pfizer vaccine, which it will eventually distribute to patients at the county’s four public hospitals and 27 health clinics.

Christina Ghaly, the county’s director of health services.

The logistics will be less complicated for the second vaccine, Moderna‘s, because it doesn’t require an ultra-low temperature cold chain, county officials said.

Gunzenhauser said the entire planning process is “really a fast-moving train” and that it could change as more becomes known about the vaccine and how much will be available.

The county has already struggled with the challenges of the pandemic, in particular in trying to create a testing infrastructure

Every state and local health agency in the country is making plans amid uncertainty, and many say their decisions hinge on first knowing which vaccine will be available, according to an analysis by Kaiser Family Foundation

In the Bay Area county of Contra Costa, officials are advising residents to not let pandemic fatigue set in

Chris Farnitano, the county’s health officer, at recent public meeting