Laguna Woods Village Bringing COVID-19 Vaccine To Most Vulnerable, But Shortages Delay Rollout
LAGUNA WOODS (CBSLA) — Cancer patient Dolores Hallaert will be among the first in a a group of homebound seniors living in Laguna Woods Village in Orange County to have the vaccine brought to her.
"It's an incredible community," she said. "There's was no way I could get out and get it done, and the fact that they are going to come out and do it, to me, is remarkable."
The in-home vaccine distribution program is slated to begin Friday for several dozen people. The program is only for the most fragile residents over the age of 65 years old who are unable to leave their beds.
Dolores recently took a fall and broke her shoulder, leaving her in a great deal of pain.
"You don't know what it's like just to move her from the bed to the bathroom," her husband, Leon, said. "Her shoulder is just, I don't know what else I can do for the pain on that except give her the pain pills. The orthopedic guy, he just says it's going to take time."
In addition to the in-home vaccinations, the vaccine clinic at Clubhouse 7 will open once more for those who have appointments.
The community had hoped to finish distributing first doses to all residents over the age of 65 this weekend, but have since realized that it would not be possible due to a lack of vaccine doses.
"We'll be notifying people probably all the way through this evening and tomorrow morning having to reschedule the people that had a Saturday appointment," Eileen Paulin, director of media and communications for Laguna Woods Village, said. "The most important thing is just to be patient and understand that this is a problem that all of the sites are having right now. It's very unfortunate."
According to Laguna Woods Village, there are 3,000 residents over the age of 65 that still need to be vaccinated but only 600 doses available.