Costa Mesa Vaccination Site Opens As More Vaccines Arrive In OC

ORANGE COUNTY, CA — Orange County will open another major vaccination site at the fairgrounds in Costa Mesa this week, according to the former Costa Mesa mayor and newly elected District Two Supervisor.

The site will have walk-up and drive-through appointments, according to Katrina Foley. Though she would like to have the site offer a no-appointment option, that is yet to be seen. Either way, county officials will be doing their best to help the more vulnerable communities, who struggle with making an appointment through the county's website or app, Foley says.

The new site will be open on Wednesday, just one day before residents 50 years and older will become eligible for inoculations. As of Thursday in Orange County, over 455,000 residents are fully vaccinated.

To date, approximately 1,104,491 residents have registered for vaccines over the Othena.com website. Orange County's super points of dispensing have administered 638,357 vaccine doses, and 885,334 appointments have been scheduled. The site is currently registered those who signed up by March 11, according to CuraPatient.

In Orange County, 145 residents are currently hospitalized due to coronavirus, and of those 29 are in intensive care. One more resident died as of Monday, bringing the cumulative death toll to 4,726. Over 242,000 have recovered from coronavirus, according to the Orange County Health Care Agency.

Continuing the push toward vaccinating all is the key toward reopening, officials say.

The new super POD will have extended hours, according to Foley, "so that people who work or can't take a day of work ... will be able to go at more flexible times."

County residents can make appointments through the www.Othena.com reservation system.

Foley added she was "working on having some designated lines" for various categories such as hospital, food industry, or theme park workers.

Foley, who was mayor of Costa Mesa before her election to the county board earlier this month, said she was excited for the OC Fair to return to in-person attendance in July.

Read also: OC Fair 'Time For Fun' Summer Opening Dates Announced

"The more people we get vaccinated the more fun we'll have at the (Orange County) fair (this summer)," Foley said. "That's one of the beauties of having a super site at the fairgrounds. It will remind everyone that we have fun on the horizon if everybody gets vaccinated faster and more efficiently."