The Department of Veterans Affairs announced Wednesday that it had issued at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine to over 50,000 health care workers and 5,000 long-term care patients since Dec. 14 at 165 sites, including eight in California.
However, the VA has yet to announce plans for when veterans that are not receiving long-term care can get vaccinated, it will begin distributing doses to its remaining facilities. The VA notes that its “ultimate goal is to offer COVID-19 vaccinations to all veterans and employees who want to be vaccinated. As vaccine supplies increase, VA care teams will reach out to eligible Veterans to schedule vaccinations.”
As of Jan. 4, the VA has yet to announce how many unvaccinated veterans and workers remain in the first two groups, nor when vaccines will be made available to subsequent groups, such as veterans that are not residing in long-term care facilities.
Additionally, it is unclear what groups will next receive vaccines. So far, the VA has only announced that “veterans who are high risk of severe illness from COVID-19 will be next.”
January 2021: California Veterans and the COVID-19 Pandemic
In California, eight VA facilities have received vaccine supplies thus far, including the Palo Alto and Greater Los Angeles VA Health Care Systems.
CalVet recently announced that its seven remaining long term care facilities will begin vaccinating health care workers and long-term patients “over the course of the next few weeks.”
A more specific timetable has yet to be released.
In general, California has struggled with distributing the vaccine. As of Jan. 4, only 28.1% of available COVID-19 vaccine doses had been administered, a percentage that ranks 41st in the country.
Efforts have been made, however, to counter the economic struggles caused by the virus. California recently launched a new grant program that will provide relief for small businesses and nonprofits in the state, including veterans service organizations.
Author: Christian Southards
Coming from a family with a proud military background and wanting to contribute his writing skills to a worthy cause, Christian began writing for the California American Legion in August of 2020. His father is a 25-year Army Veteran and his grandfather served in the Navy during Vietnam.
