City Receives Allotment of Moderna Vaccine

More than 2,500 people working and living in Pasadena have received COVID-19 vaccinations, according to Pasadena Public Information Officer Lisa Derderian.

There remain about 13,000 people living and working in Pasadena who are eligible for the vaccine but have not yet received it. 

“Initial Pfizer vaccine was allocated directly to Huntington Hospital [almost 3,000 doses], and their staff have been vaccinating eligible individuals daily, over 2,500 already,” Derderian said. 

“We estimate about 13,000 people living/working in Pasadena to vaccinate in Tier 1A, which includes healthcare workers, EMS, and long-term care facility residents and staff,” Derderian said.

Last week, the city’s Health Department received its supply of the Moderna vaccine, which has received emergency approval. It was not known how many doses have been received.  

The  Health Department has been sending strike teams into health care facilities to vaccinate staff and residents in order to quickly reach as many people as possible.

Vaccinations in the U.S. began on Dec. 4 with health care workers, but the progress of vaccinations has lagged. According to Bloomberg News, by Saturday just 4.28 million people had been vaccinated, which is far behind the plan to get the vaccine to 100 million people. 

The city will conduct large-scale medical points of dispensing (MPOD) via drive-through and walk-up vaccine clinics to vaccinate staff working at long-term health care facilities, including two next week. 

The city will also conduct closed MPOD vaccine clinics for groups in Tier 1A, including emergency personnel, public health field workers, and health care workers.

The vaccine is also being allocated to local pharmacies and urgent care facilities so people in Tier 1A can also receive the vaccine by appointment. 

“We are notifying all medical providers in Pasadena to register in the state system,” Derderian said. “Once they are approved by the state [they have to meet standards to be able to handle and store vaccine properly, and to report/record all vaccine records in the state immunization registry], we will be able to allocate vaccine to them so they can vaccinate people in Tier 1A, and in the future, people in other tiers.”

The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines require two doses, with three and four weeks between doses, respectively. 

The city Health Department is managing the distribution process under guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the California Department of Public Health.

The city has the infrastructure to store and distribute the vaccines, officials said.

When the COVID-19 vaccine is made available to the general public, it will be provided at no charge and will be paid for by the federal government or by insurance companies.

Vaccinations began just as Huntington Hospital was experiencing a brutal surge that forced the hospital to increase the number of intensive care unit beds and ration care.

As of Sunday, the hospital was treating 186 patients infected with the virus. Thirty-nine of those people were in the ICU.