No COVID-19 vaccines are available in Malibu, but there are vaccines being distributed in Calabasas, Agoura Hills, Santa Monica, Woodland Hills and Thousand Oaks.
The City of Malibu and Malibu Medical Group continues to offer novel coronavirus tests at Malibu City Hall each week, with the next testing running 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 17. More information on that can be found at malibucity.org/coronavirus.
According to the U.S. Census, about a quarter of all Malibu residents are aged 65 or older, and therefore eligible for the vaccine, in addition to the many residents who work in the healthcare field.
More information on how to track down a vaccine appointment is available at publichealth.lacounty.gov/media/Coronavirus/vaccine. Staff at the Malibu Senior Center are also available to help those who don’t have or aren’t comfortable using computers; call 310.456.2489 ext. 357.
Mirroring a slowdown in novel coronavirus spread across the region, Malibu’s number of new infections is also sharply down from a high in January; however, this week, an additional 15 Malibuites tested positive for the virus, a slight uptick over the last four weeks. In total, 334 Malibu residents have been known to be infected by the virus; six have died.
County information
Competition for COVID-19 vaccines remains fierce across Los Angeles County.
In a county with more than 10 million residents, about 2.2 million were eligible for the vaccine as of Tuesday, Feb. 16—specifically, those ages 65 and up, healthcare workers and people living in skilled nursing facilities. The number of eligible Angelenos will soon reach 3.5 million. On Tuesday, LA County Supervisors announced vaccine eligibility would soon open up to another high-risk group: essential workers, including teachers.
More on what that will mean for Malibu students can be found on page A1, “SMMUSD reaches reopening deal with teachers’ union.”
“The state has announced that it is changing its vaccine rollout strategy in California after completion of Phase 1B, Tier 1 (Education and Childcare, Emergency Services, Food and Agriculture),” the county’s vaccine website states. “The state plans to transition to age-based eligibility, allowing California to scale up and down quickly, while ensuring vaccine goes to disproportionately impacted communities.” That marks a change from the last vaccine information published in The Malibu Times, which stated other essential workers as well as homeless people and incarcerated prisoners would be among the upcoming phases.
“Starting March 15, people ages 16 to 64 who are disabled or at high risk for morbidity and mortality from COVID-19 will be able to receive vaccinations in California—expanding the total number of residents who can get the shots to 17 million to 20 million,” the LA Times wrote on Tuesday.
Last week, supervisors reported, the county received about 219,700 vaccine doses (both Pfizer and Moderna) from state supplies. That does not, however, mean another 220,000 people were vaccinated, as those doses must be used for first doses as well as the required second dose, which comes 21 or 28 days later, depending on the vaccine.
“As of February 8, 38 percent of residents 65 and older have received the first dose of the vaccine,” Supervisor Hilda Solis said at the Tuesday press conference.
Solis announced a new mass vaccination site which opened Tuesday at Cal State – LA which would offer another 6,000 vaccines each day, the latest mass vaccine site to open in the county.
“Despite this significant progress, I am clear eyed about the work we have to do going forward,” she added.
“Right now, our greatest constraint happens to be the supply of vaccine,” Solis later said, adding, “it is critical that the county receive more of the vaccine to meet that demand.”