Volunteers At CA Vaccine Clinics Could Get Early Access To Shots

CALIFORNIA — As California continues to build out a vaccine rollout that has been severely hampered by limited supply, officials offered an opportunity to get early access to a shot through volunteer work.

The state currently looks to recruit volunteers to fill a handful of positions at clinics across California to help speed up vaccination efforts. My Turn Volunteer — managed by California Volunteers and Gov. Gavin Newsom's office — launched last week.

Volunteers who work a four-hour shift could get an opportunity to move up the vaccine eligibility ladder with permission from a clinic administrator, Dave Smith of California Volunteers said Friday at a Community Vaccine Advisory Committee meeting, according to multiple reports.

Sign up on My Turn Volunteer to see if there are any opportunities to volunteer in your area

As more clinics open up over the next several weeks, more volunteer shifts and opportunities are expected to come up, officials said.

Positions such as vaccine prep and patient observation are available for medical professionals. Anyone in the general public can volunteer to become a greeter or help register patients.

Those who want to volunteer can look for clinics and shifts through the My Turn Volunteer website. California residents who don't see any available opportunities in their area were encouraged to check back periodically as more clinics open.

In addition, California Volunteers partnered with AmeriCorps to redirect some 900 AmeriCorps state and national Civilian Community Corps members to support vaccination efforts in the state.

"The quickest way to ensure the safety of Californians is by increasing our state’s vaccination abilities," Chief Service Officer Josh Fryday said in a statement. "My Turn Volunteer will provide the volunteer resources needed to quickly vaccinate all Californians in our fight against COVID-19,"

Newsom on Monday again lamented the state's supply crisis from a vaccination site in the Central Valley. "Our only constraint is manufactured supply," Newsom said, according to CalMatters reporter Emily Hoeven.

Newsom also announced Monday that more than 200,000 education workers — including teachers, child care workers and other school staff — were vaccinated just a week after the state began setting aside 10 percent of its vaccines for them.

"This is welcome news for teachers, students and parents as more and more schools reopen safely across the state," Newsom said in a statement Monday. "We will continue working with our local partners to accelerate this effort in communities across the state so that all school staff have access to a vaccine within weeks."

As of Monday, the state had administered 10,512,680 vaccine doses. Some 13,345,790 doses have been delivered to the state, and 14,503,895 were en route to California on Monday.