Elsa Jimenez, director of @MCHDPIO is opening the vaccination town hall, says they're excited to be at this point of vaccinating people. They received over 200 advance questions from the public. More are still coming through.

Chair of the Board, Wendy Root Askew welcomes viewers, "I hear you," she says. Understands the urgency of their need for info and asks them to keep pushing for it.

We're getting a good, basic primer on how the vaccines work from Health Officer Edward Moreno. But I think the hundreds (thousands?) of people watching want to know why it's taking so long to get one.

Vaccine allocation: point was to decrease death and serious disease as much as possible, preserve functioning of society, health care workers first, reduce burden that Covid places on people's lives.

The Phases and tiers. Monterey County is still in progress on Phase 1a, Tier 1, some of Tier 2 is in progress, some in planning. Same is true for Tier 3, this is where the specialty clinics, dentists, mortuary workers are along with others.

Moreno running through strategies for vaccinating a larger portion of public under Phase 1b. On-site, large scale, private providers are just some examples.

24,150 allocated, 10,742 vaccinations given in Monterey County, which compared to LA County in terms of percentages is good. I did the math today on LAC, they're at 35 percent administered compared to inventory.

The best state in the country currently is West Virginia, and their percentage of doses administered is 35 percent.

Questions coming: When can I get vaccinated? When will 65+ vaccinated? Moreno: every one of our vaccines in refrigerators is dedicated to an appointment of a health care worker. Next week and a half, two weeks.

A few weeks out they may get enough vaccine to vaccinate those 65+

Health care workers asked: we haven't been notified yet. How do we get vaccinated? Moreno: we have been reaching out to health care providers on our list, but not all on it. Epidemiologist Michie: we have been sending out alerts, request to be on list, but info is on our website.

Q: Some individuals inadvertently received an invite to vaccinations. People cancelled, were those doses wasted? Moreno: no vaccine has been wasted. Clinic coordinators do their best to contact employers and said there are open slots.

Q: There was some info about expansion of professions including veterinarians and their staff? Moreno: the state does have a list of who is considered an essential worker. We look for guidance from CDPH, we haven't received it yet.

Q: Do we know how many residents are in Phase 1a? Moreno: state determined 22K health care workers in the county, that's how they determine how much vaccine to send. We're carefully moving through each of the tiers and making sure we have enough vaccine for appointments.

As of earlier this week 24,150 doses state has allocated to us. Natividad's 2,980would get the county closer to 14K doses administered. Per Moreno getting into more detail . Jimenez: so have we vaccinated 12K people? Moreno: state system (CAIR) hasn't shown all vaccinations yet.

Moreno: all the vaccines we have are committed to appointments coming up to health care workers. Second doses are happening.

Vaccine will prevent the Covid illness, researchers will be looking at whether people who had the vaccine can still expose people. Since we don't know we'll have to still wear masks, stay home etc.

Pregnant and lactating women: they are included in people who should get the vaccine. Q: are there conditions that would preclude people? A: allergic reactions to ingredients.

Michie: clinics are carefully planned. Extra doses happen and are planned for them. When we have extra we reach out to organizations that have people that can respond very quickly, and are in the tier.

Moreno: our hospitals and others have experience vaccinating large numbers of people during flu clinics. There will be unfortunate events, like failing refrigerators etc. we have back ups, there are alarms on the refrigerators to warn them if out of temperature.

How will invitation come for a vaccination? Michie: We see how well info passes on social media, also radio, TV, (hey newspapers and news websites, my comment), keeping the website up to date.

It could be your provider reaches out to you, it could be we provide a link through the media. Who is vaccinating? We have several partners who will work with us. VNA ins an example. Hospitals. Urgent cares. Nursing schools are anxious to help. EMTs received special permission.

Jimenez: why aren't we doing large events like we see elsewhere? Rats, this question wasn't answered, got lost in the answers given in above tweet.

Home health care workers: use the link on website that's for health care providers. (If they want to get a vaccination.)

Commercial break: Check out the @mcweekly vaccine Q&A. This will be updaed with info from tonight's meeting. https://www.montereycountyweekly.com/blogs/news_blog/covid-19-vaccine-q-a-answers-to-your-most-pressing-questions-about-the-vaccination-rollout/article_fb2856d8-55f1-11eb-bf1e-3fff23100fb0.html

Yes, back to question about large events: Michie: we don't have enough vaccine yet. As more becomes available we will be able to offer more. More to come, we might have some in the future.

If you live in Monterey County part time, or if you live elsewhere and work here where should you be vaccinated: you are welcome to be vaccinated here.

Schools: Should teachers be vaccinated before in school instruction begins: Moreno, needs more time to study the guidance. Does not appear opening schools is related to vaccination status, but yes connected to testing.

Jimenez: We are grouping questions based on theme...all that info will be on our website by next week. The most critical question I see is can you give us any idea when Phase 1a is done so we can move on to 1b. Moreno: we don't have enough vaccine beyond 1a, we don't know...

from week to week how much we're receiving. But state has said there will be people who don't get vaccine or are hesitant, so go ahead and move into another phase.

Phase 1b: are we going to do any prioritization in Tier 1? Those at risk of exposure, 65+, what's the thinking? Moreno: Since we started vaccinating we have done our best to follow state guidance. Guidance was released yesterday on 1b, I'll be reviewing that.

Our case rate is very high, does that give us any priority with the state for receiving vaccine? Moreno: state determines based on population. But first to pharmacies for long term facilities, then to prisons, then they look to see what's left, determines what goes to counties...

Use formula for equity distribution they determine how much to counties. Once we're told how much we get early in week, that might change by the time we put our order in by Thursday.

Charles McKee, county admin officer, asks question about registering...Michie, you can express your interest in begin vaccinating. On the county's Covid-19 website. So when they get to your tier you will be notified. http://montereycovid19.com 

McKee: We know we have to do this again, since they exceeded 500 limit on Zoom, (278 watching now on YouTube), Facebook.

McKee: IF you have a neighbor or friend that doesn't have internet, or no access to info, share with them. We're obviously not done here...do what the health care pros been telling you, wear a mask, don't congregate, stay home, the things we need to do to get to finish line.

Another plug: next week's cover story in @mcweekly is on Covid-19 vaccines! In the meantime: https://www.montereycountyweekly.com/blogs/news_blog/covid-19-vaccine-q-a-answers-to-your-most-pressing-questions-about-the-vaccination-rollout/article_fb2856d8-55f1-11eb-bf1e-3fff23100fb0.html