Leaders in Irvine continue to reiterate the city’s need to increase its COVID-19 vaccine supply, as the state’s vaccine distribution not only affects who can be vaccinated, but where vaccinations can actually occur.

The city of Irvine has been eager to host a Super POD site (point of distribution) – specifically an indoor vaccination site at the Orange County Great Park inside Hangar 244.  

In fact, the city worked with the county to present a license agreement to the Irvine City Council that would establish a partnership with Orange County and the city of Irvine to utilize the Great Park as a COVID-19 Super POD.

However, before the Irvine City Council could vote on the license agreement authorizing the use of Hangar 244 as a third Super POD site in the county, the item was pulled from the agenda prior to the Jan. 26 meeting, at the request of County Executive Officer Frank Kim.

During the meeting on Jan. 26, Irvine City Council Member Larry Agran voiced frustration over the fact that the Great Park POD site license agreement was delayed. Agran said this situation should be treated like a local emergency. 

“Our long-standing offer of using the Great Park as a vaccine mass distribution site has been ignored or rejected for far too long by the county and by the health department. It looked like we were going to sign a license agreement to see to it that the Orange County Great Park became a mass vaccinate site,” Agran said. “To hear that this was pulled from the agenda because the county pulled the plug on this project is outrageous – and kind of beyond belief.”

Additionally, Agran said an email, obtained by Irvine Weekly, between the City of Irvine and the county indicated that there were last-minute concerns about traffic in relation to Hangar 244 as a vaccination site in Irvine.

The email also indicates, in addition to traffic concerns, that the county stated it was unfortunate that the city of Irvine made the announcement of the Great Park as a vaccination site “public” prior to an agreement being finalized. 

“It is unfortunate that this site was made public before it was fully finalized,” Thomas Miller, the county’s Chief Real Estate Officer, wrote in an email to Irvine City Manager Marianna Marysheva. “But after the various calls and communications on Friday, we are sure that you understand this ongoing process and the various concerns that still exist.”

Marysheva explained that the city is still currently working with the county to examine other potential vaccination sites in Irvine. She is optimistic that the city of Irvine can reach an agreement for an Irvine-based Super POD by February.

“The site selection is the county’s decision, and the city continues to stand ready to provide any necessary logistical support to get our residents vaccinated,” Marysheva wrote in an email to Irvine Weekly. “I hope that the site selection will be made in the upcoming couple of weeks, and definitely by February 10.”

As of Monday, Jan. 25, a total of 178,016 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in Orange County, according to the Orange Health Care Agency.

However, technical issues plaguing the Othena app are still a major cause of frustration, especially for Third District Supervisor Don Wagner.

“Othena sucks,” Wagner said during the Orange County Board of Supervisors meeting on Jan. 26, referencing public sentiment for the vaccine scheduling application. “I hate to use that word in a public forum, but I’m not sure there’s a better word I can use – more importantly everybody knows it’s a mess.”

Dr. Clayton Chau, County Health Officer and Director of the HCA, acknowledged the application’s shaky debut, adding that his recent conversations about the application have indicated progress has been made.

“We know now that there are frustrations, but we have now enrolled close to half a million people in Orange County on Othena,” Chau explained.

As Orange County is set to establish two additional Super POD sites, the county is at the mercy of the state in terms of the amount of vaccine doses available.

Still, the county’s limited vaccine supply is becoming a large concern for residents and elected officials in Irvine.

Irvine Mayor Farrah Khan said she has weekly conversations with Gov. Newsom to emphasize Irvine’s need for an increased supply of vaccines.

“The backup in opening new sites is almost three fold,” she said. “One is getting more vaccines in and the state has a new level they want every county to meet – and that’s the equity level [factor] – where counties can get more vaccines depending on how well they are handling equity in administering the vaccine.”

Khan said Irvine’s main goal is to help the county distribute as many vaccines as possible.

“We’re hopeful that by mid to late February, we’re hearing that maybe Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca might get authorized by the FDA,” she said. “If that happens we are looking at possibly doubling the amount of vaccines that are coming into the county.”

As more people become vaccinated, attention surrounding the death of a 60-year-old health care worker, who0 was hospitalized hours after receiving a dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, and later died, has created national headlines.

Tim Zook, a resident of Orange, and a healthcare worker at Coastal Global Medical Center in Santa Ana, died on Jan. 9, at UC Irvine Medical Center, after receiving a second dose of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine, on Jan. 5. 

While the Orange County coroner has yet to determine if the vaccine played a role in the man’s death, some experts caution the assumption the vaccine should be quick to blame.

Andrew Noymer, Associate Professor of Population Health and Disease Prevention Public Health at UC Irvine, said while he understands how the circumstances surrounding this fatality could cause the public to question the safety of the vaccine, he said based on data from the United States Actuarial Life Table, natural causes should not be dismissed.   

“If you have 10,000 60-year-old males and you go through an observation period of two weeks, you can expect about 4.6 deaths – and that’s just based on life, basically,” Noymer explained in an interview with Irvine Weekly. “Yes, it’s high – death is actually more common in that demographic than people internalize.”

Considering nations are undertaking the unprecedented task of vaccinating entire populations, Noymer said that the public should be prepared for unintended consequences.

Locally speaking, Noymer added that while Irvine and Orange County are a pin drop in the vast scope of vaccinations happening globally, deaths will occur, regardless of the vaccine.

“Sooner or later some of these deaths are going to filter up to the public’s attention,” he said. 

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