9,000 signed up for COVID vaccines - but it was all a mistake, California county says
Thousands of Sonoma County residents had appointments to get vaccinated for COVID-19 but county officials canceled them after discovering a “glitch” that allowed people of all ages to sign up before they were eligible, officials said during a meeting streamed on Facebook Live.
Sonoma County supervisors and public health officials apologized Monday after “glitches in a website” allowed 9,000 people under the age of 75 to book appointments.
The county uses a vaccine plan that differs from the state’s, according to the county’s website. People who are currently eligible to receive the vaccine in Sonoma County are healthcare workers at risk of exposure and people who are 75 and older. Elsewhere in California, people currently eligible include those 65 and older and those who work in education, childcare, emergency services and food and agriculture.
“Our community is known as a retirement destination and we’re actually home to 102,000 residents who are 65 and older,” Lynda Hopkins, a county supervisor, said during the livestream Monday. “We’ve opted to begin with the 36,000 residents in our county who are age 75 and older … I want to explain why these people are our number one priority. And the reason is because those are residents who are most at risk.”
Hopkins explained that nearly two-thirds of Sonoma County residents who have died since the pandemic began were 75 and older. Chris Coursey, another supervisor, pointed out that five people have died in Sonoma County in the last week and three of those deaths were people over the age of 75.
Coursey then apologized “to the thousands of people who are confused and disappointed at the events in the last few days.”
“We feel we’re making the right choice — to double down right now on our folks who are 75 and older,” Coursey said. “Many of you know, this commitment was tested last week when we discovered that, because of glitches in a website for scheduling appointments … we had a lot of people who were able to book appointments who didn’t meet the threshold that we had set … That kept thousands of people in our most vulnerable group, 75 and older, from getting those appointments.”
The county sent out cancellation notices Monday, Coursey said.
Sonoma County, which has about 500,000 residents, has reported 5,163 cases of COVID-19 and 265 deaths as of Tuesday, according to the county’s website. California has reported more than 3 million cases and 41,330 deaths, the state’s website says.
This story was originally published February 2, 2021 at 1:26 PM.