9K Vaccine Appointments Canceled, Reserved For Seniors 75 And Up

SONOMA COUNTY, CA — While there are 102,000 Sonoma County residents who are 65 and older, the county said it does not currently receive enough vaccine supply to serve the whole senior population group of 65 and up. Therefore it is prioritizing the smaller senior population group of 36,000 Sonoma County residents who 75 and older in the rollout of vaccinations.

In reaffirming the county's commitment to vaccinate residents 75 and older against the coronavirus, county officials said a "difficult decision" was made to cancel all vaccination appointments reserved by those who did not fit the requirements of being 75 and older.

County officials were referring to some 9,000 appointments made through the OptumServe website during the rollout of an OptumServe clinic in Rohnert Park.

"Given the County’s concern about OptumServe's ability to have website controls in place to limit the appointments to those 75 and older — as they were still fine-tuning the scheduling website —the County did not share the link with the public but instead made clear these appointments were 'by invitation only,'" county officials said.

The County's Adult and Aging Division and the Health Equity Manager identified groups that work with vulnerable seniors to fill the initial appointments for the OptumServe Rohnert Park clinic.

"Eventually, however, the link was shared on social media and the appointments were quickly filled into early March," County Spokesperson Paul Gullixson said. "Given the lack of controls on the OptumServe scheduling site, 85 percent of those who made these reservations were under 75. This was equal to about 9,000 reservations for first and second doses."

As a result, Gullixson said, "the difficult decision was made on Friday to cancel all appointments made by those who did not fit the requirements of being 75 and older."

The cancellations were announced at a news briefing on Friday.

Anyone who received the first dose will be allowed to receive a second dose, regardless of age, the county said.

"Those who have already had a first dose do not need to take any action in rescheduling a second dose. OptumService will be assigning them a new date and time."

Sonoma County Reaffirms Commitment To Vaccinate Seniors 75 And Older

Sonoma County officials Monday announced several new opportunities for seniors 75 and up to schedule vaccination appointments. Health officials also pledged more clinics would be coming online in the near future.

"The 36,000 seniors in this age bracket represent our most vulnerable residents" said Lynda Hopkins, Chair of the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors. "They have accounted for two-thirds of all of the COVID deaths in the County. Due to our limited supply of vaccine, we are in triage mode, and we must prioritize this most at-risk group first. We don’t have time to wait."

Sonoma County residents 75 and older are encouraged to schedule a vaccination appointment through their primary health-care provider as their first option. As an alternative, the county has supported the creation of multiple vaccination clinics to target this population. Residents will be asked to show ID and those under 75 years old will be turned away.

Current clinics are:

• Rohnert Park Community Center, in partnership with OptumServe, Tuesday through Saturday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Schedule an appointment at: Myoptumserve.com or call 877-218-0381.
• Sonoma County Fairgrounds Grace Pavilion, in partnership with Safeway, Feb. 2 and Feb. 3, 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., schedule an appointment at: Mhealthsystem.com.
• Oakmont Berger Center, in partnership with Safeway, Feb. 4, Feb. 5 and Feb. 8, 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., schedule an appointment at: Mhealthsystem.com.
• West County Health Centers, Guerneville School, Feb. 1, 3, 5 and Analy High School, Feb. 2, 4, 6, schedule an appointment at: Wchealth.org.
• Sonoma Valley High School, in partnership with Sonoma Valley Hospital, Feb. 5 - 7, schedule an appointment at: Sonomavalleyhospital.org.

Future clinics for seniors 75 and older are targeted for:

• Petaluma campus of Santa Rosa Junior College
• Huerta Gym in Windsor
• Cloverdale Citrus Fair
• Sonoma Veteran’s Building

For more information about the latest vaccine numbers, who's eligible for a vaccine and how to receive a vaccine, community members can go to SoCoEmergency.org/vaccine or call 211.