Over 83,000 Coronavirus Vaccine Doses Arrive In Orange County

ORANGE COUNTY, CA — An additional 83,055 doses of coronavirus vaccines arrived in Orange County Thursday, helping officials make good on canceled appointments. The vaccines were delayed due to an influx of bad weather across the central and eastern coasts.

Supervisor Lisa Bartlett said the county is "playing catch up" on getting second-dose patients vaccinated. "We are on an extremely good trajectory at this point," she said. "We are looking good and might be one of the first counties to go from the purple to red tier."

That prediction is hopeful, as the county gears up to vaccinate 16,000 new Moderna patients a day earlier than thought.

CEO Frank Kim explained the layout of the shots by the numbers.

Of the 83,055 shots, 80 percent will go to both stand-alone hospitals to the Orange County Board of Education to vaccinate teachers and educators (approximately 66,000). The 20 percent remaining shots will go to Super PODs and CalOptima, the county's insurance program for the neediest of residents.

The county is still shuttling residents to their facility with the Othena vaccine registration app, though their vaccine supply is limited.

The Disneyland Super Point of Dispensing site was closed Thursday due to high winds in the area. That site was expected to be open on Friday. Meanwhile, Soka University's Super Point of Dispensing Site was operating without incident. The Anaheim Convention center is also continuing to operate without closures, according to Kim.

With the weather not expected to be an issue, the county has enough vaccines to do what we need to do, according to Kim said.

"We still need to finish processing all of those due to their second dose last week," he said. "We're going to prioritize those second doses. We need to catch up."

Santa Ana College will remain closed until the middle of next week, according to Kim.

Meanwhile, only 174 residents have tested positive for coronavirus Thursday. Three days' worth of fatality reports came through Thursday, totaling 41 additional coronavirus deaths. January remains the deadliest month of the pandemic, with 1,214 Orange County residents losing their lives due to COVID-19.

Thus far, according to the county's tally, 90 people have died of coronavirus in February.

County officials think the county might reach all of the red tier metrics by Sunday. To move up to a less-restrictive tier, a county must stay within it for at least two weeks.

To get to the red tier, the county has to have a case rate per 100,000 population of 4 to 7, a positivity rate of 5% to 8%, and a Health Equity Quartile rate of 5.3% to 8%. The metrics are updated every Tuesday.

The red tier allows for many more businesses and organizations to reopen. For instance, retail stores could allow for half capacity instead of 25%, and museums, zoos, and aquariums could reopen for indoor activities at 25% capacity. Also, movie theaters, gyms, and restaurants could open indoors at 25% capacity.

Dr. Clayton Chau, the county's chief health officer and director of the Orange County Health Care Agency, told the Board of Supervisors that the county would be the first to allow full-contact youth sports, including football, by this Friday.

City News Service contributed to this report.

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