During his first prime-time address to the nation on Thursday, March 11, President Joe Biden laid out his plan to accelerate the reopening of the American economy, designating Sunday, July 4, as the target date.

In Orange County, July 4 has also been the target date for Operation Independence, the county’s partnership with the Orange County Fire Authority and the Orange County Health Agency, that is working to vaccinate all residents by July 4.

Irvine Mayor Farrah Khan, who founded Orange County’s first city-based COVID-19 Recovery Task Force, said while all cities are dealing with a limited vaccine supply, the county seems on track to meet the July milestone.

“I think July 4 is going to be realistic. It can be realistic as long as we get the vaccine numbers that we hoped we would get,” she said. “Johnson & Johnson was just approved – that should bump up the number of vaccines we get – the more supply we get, the faster we’re able to vaccinate people.”

In terms of vaccine distribution, Irvine has yet to be selected as a Super POD site, but Khan said the city is ready, and has given the COVID-19 vaccine to hundreds of the city’s most at-risk senior citizens at Lakeview Senior Center.

“Through our COVID-19 Task Force, we were able to work with Memorial Care and Hoag to bring vaccines in and get some of our most vulnerable seniors vaccinated,” she said. “On Thursday we did 300, on Friday we did 200 and the week before we did another 200 [vaccinations].”

In addition to his July 4 goal, Biden also said he would work to make the COVID-19 vaccine available to all adults by May 1.

“Tonight, I am announcing that I will direct all states, tribes and territories to make all adult Americans eligible for the vaccine no later than May 1,” the president said during the national address on March 11.

On the same day he signed the American Rescue Plan, the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill, Biden provided the nation with a five-step plan that would, “get our economy back on track.”

In terms of priority, Biden says he is putting utmost focus into vaccinating adults by May 1. In tandem, Biden added that the development of new vaccination location tools will be paramount to this vaccination effort.

A third priority to reopening on July 4, is to vaccinate school employees. The president said the next steps would be to await further guidance that would determine “what can be done once fully vaccinated.”

Orange County is set to enter the less restrictive Red Tier in California’s Blueprint For A Safer Economy on Wednesday, March 17. While many leaders in Orange County have been eager to return to normalcy, some say the arrival of the vaccine has brought hope to those aspirations.

Don Wagner, Third District Supervisor, and former Irvine Mayor said he continues to see day-to-day improvements.

“The county is working fast to vaccinate those most vulnerable to the virus, but getting everyone their doses remains a function of time and vaccine availability. However, I am confident we are up to the task,” Wagner said.

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