Disneyland to be Orange County’s first large-scale vaccination site
County officials announced the deal Monday to use the theme park as the first of five mass vaccination sites in its effort to ramp up inoculations.
www.ocregister.com
Disneyland to be Orange County’s first large-scale vaccination site
Alicia RobinsonJanuary 11, 2021 at 7:09 p.m.
Disneyland will be a major vaccine distribution site, joining Dodger Stadium and other stadiums, fairgrounds and convention centers in an effort to expand the coronavirus vaccination campaign. (File photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Bereft of visitors for months due to the coronavirus pandemic, Disneyland will soon see thousands of guests when it serves as one of Orange County’s five major COVID-19 vaccination sites.
County officials announced the deal Monday, Jan. 11, to use the theme park in its effort to ramp up inoculations as the number of Orange County residents hospitalized with the virus hovers above 2,200.
“The Disneyland Resort, the largest employer in the heart of Orange County, has stepped up to host the county’s first Super POD (point-of-dispensing) site – undertaking a monumental task in our vaccination distribution process,” acting Board of Supervisors Chairman Andrew Do said in a news release.
Supervisor Doug Chaffee, whose district includes Disneyland, said his constituents “have been highly impacted by COVID-19. These Super PODs are absolutely critical in stopping this deadly virus.”
The county didn’t share details of exactly how or where on the Disneyland property the vaccination site would operate, but the news release said it would open later this week to serve – by appointment only – people who live or work in Orange County and are in the top tier of the state’s priority list, which includes most frontline health care workers.
Most eligible workers will be notified by their employer and will be directed to make an appointment through an app the county helped develop.
The county has been operating COVID-19 testing “super sites” at the Anaheim Convention Center and OC Fair & Event Center and plans a total of five mass vaccine “points-of-dispensing,” or PODs, officials have said. Other sites have not been named by the county – spokeswoman Molly Nichelson said contracts are still being finalized – but the Voice of OC previously reported they could include the Costa Mesa fairgrounds, the Orange County Great Park in Irvine, Knott’s Berry Farm in Buena Park and the Soka University campus in Aliso Viejo.
The county is also recruiting volunteers to help run the sites, including people with medical training and others to do non-medical tasks. The super sites are expected to vaccinate thousands of people per day. County officials have set a goal of completing all vaccinations by July 4.
Currently the state is still in the highest priority phase of inoculations, which target people working in health care, including hospital, lab and pharmacy employees, paramedics and EMTs, home health aides, as well as long-term care facility residents and workers.
