SANTA ANA (CNS)—After two days of closures due to high winds, the COVID-19 vaccination site at Disneyland reopened Jan. 21, and county officials plan to open another large-scale location to administer doses this weekend.
The Disneyland super point of distribution (POD) site was closed Jan. and Wednesday as Santa Ana winds battered much of Southern California.
There was concern about gusts uprooting the tents being used at the site.
Orange County Supervisor Lisa Bartlett said the next Super POD site for vaccinations will open Jan. 23 at Soka University of America in Aliso Viejo. The vaccinations will be administered in the university’s gym.
She said the Soka site will be more convenient for seniors in Laguna Woods.
But county officials remain concerned about a slowdown in the supply of vaccines, county chief executive Frank Kim said. The county received 30,675 doses on Wednesday and are expecting another 14,000 by week’s end, he said.
The county hopes to ultimately open up to five large-scale vaccination sites, but until supplies of vaccines are assured, it likely won’t happen.
State officials had directed the county to stop using a batch of Moderna’s vaccine from lot 41L20A in response to a series of allergic reactions among people who received the shots in San Diego. There have been no other reports of adverse reactions anywhere else, including Orange County, where 5,217 people received doses from the batch before it was pulled from use.
The state’s epidemiologist Jan. 20 lifted the restriction on the batch, saying an investigation by local and federal authorities found no issues with the medication.
Kim said the news should not dissuade anyone from getting the Moderna vaccine.
“There have been very few adverse reactions to both Pfizer and Moderna,” Kim said. “From a scientific perspective we have been assured by our public health professionals and the CDC that the vaccines are safe... We remain confident that the vaccine remains good for our community and is safe to be administered.”
Orange County on Jan. 21 reported 38 more COVID-19 fatalities. It also reported 1,340 new cases, but the good news is that case rates and hospitalization rates are trending down.
Of the deaths most recently reported, one was from a skilled nursing facility.
