All Santa Barbara County vaccine providers should be incorporated into the state MyTurn system run by Blue Shield by April, according to the Public Health Department.
The state contracted with Blue Shield of California to oversee vaccine distribution, rather than public health departments individually managing it, and the transition is expected to create a centralized location for people to check eligibility and look for appointments.
County Public Health Director Van Do-Reynoso said Tuesday that Cottage Health and Sansum Clinic have already signed contracts with Blue Shield and will continue working with the county’s distribution in a parallel system for now.
Some pharmacies in the county also have appointments available via MyTurn, and the Public Health Department will be part of it soon, she said.
“The state anticipates that by the end of the month everyone, or all jurisdictions in California including public health departments as well as healthcare systems, will be using MyTurn so on April 1 that will be a statewide platform for scheduling appointments for vaccines,” Do-Reynoso said.
All vaccinating providers in the county will transition to the MyTurn registration platform for their vaccine clinics by the end of the month, according to a COVID-19 update released Wednesday from Sansum Clinic.
California has launched the MyTurn website at https://myturn.ca.gov/, where residents can sign up for notifications when they are eligible to get vaccinated, and book appointments when available.
“If you’re eligible and vaccine appointments are available through MyTurn, you can schedule one,” the state says. “If it’s not your turn yet or appointments are not available, you can register to be notified when you’re eligible or when appointments open up.”
The MyTurn COVID-19 vaccination website noted that “appointments may take a few weeks to schedule” due to high demand and limited supply.
For people without access to an email address or other questions about MyTurn, the state created a California COVID-19 hotline at 1.833.422.4255, available from 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. weekdays (Monday-Friday) and between 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekends (Saturday-Sunday).
The latest data show Santa Barbara County has been allocated about 135,400 COVID-19 vaccine doses, with nearly 10% of the county’s population fully vaccinated.
The first COVID-19 vaccinations arrived at Santa Barbara County hospitals in mid-December 2020, and the shots were administered to frontline health care workers.
Since then, the county has expanded eligibility to residents age 65 and older as well as essential workers in certain industries, including education and food service, and people with certain medical conditions.
COVID-19 vaccination appointments are available through local hospitals, clinics, pharmacies, and Public Health Department clinics.
More vaccine-related information is available on the Santa Barbara County Public Health Department website here: https://publichealthsbc.org/vaccine/.
— Noozhawk staff writer Brooke Holland can be reached at bholland@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.