SLO County launches new lottery for COVID vaccines. Here’s how to sign up
San Luis Obispo County residents eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine can now sign up for appointments via the county’s new vaccine lottery, the county Public Health Department announced Tuesday.
That includes people 65 or older, who can now register online or by phone to get their first doses.
“This is a fair and easy way to get your first-dose appointment if you are eligible. We don’t want to leave anyone behind,” county Public Health Officer Penny Borenstein said in a news release Tuesday. “We hope this new registry and lottery will reduce stress, as people will no longer need to rush to get an appointment.”
“If you’re eligible, you only have to sign up once and don’t need to worry about checking back,” she said. “You’ll hear from us each week whether you get an appointment or not.”
When they sign up to be vaccinated, people can indicate their appointment preferences for clinic location, days, and times, the release said, although the county may not be able to accommodate all preferences.
The county Public Health Department has three COVID-19 vaccination clinics — located at Arroyo Grande High School, Cuesta College in San Luis Obispo and the Paso Robles Event Center.
Because vaccine supply is limited, not everyone who signs up will get an appointment right away, the county said.
A computer-generated random sample will be drawn from the registry each Thursday and the county will assign appointments based on how much vaccine is available the following week.
Anyone in the registry by Wednesday at 11:59 p.m. will be included in the random selection of appointments assigned the following week.
After the county assigns appointments each week, all registry participants will receive an update of their status stating that they have been provided an appointment or will remain on the registry for the following week.
According to the county, people who have already received their first vaccine doses should not sign up for the lottery to get their second doses. Those residents will be contacted about a month after their first doses to schedule their second dose appointments.
The San Luis Obispo County Vaccine Task Force considered the switch to a lottery-based system a few weeks ago, but decided to wait until the county implemented California’s My Turn statewide registration system.
However, San Luis Obispo County recently learned that implementation is still at least six to eight weeks away.
“Thus we feel we need to do something now locally to deal with improving our appointment system,” Borenstein said.
Residents are encouraged to register for the vaccine appointment lottery online by visiting RecoverSLO.org/VaccineAppointments and completing the registration form.
Those without internet access or who have difficulty with the online form can call the phone assistance center at 805-543-2444 or 805-781-4280 and receive assistance from an operator.
Residents can check their eligibility at bit.ly/3kDaBQi.
COVID-19 vaccine appointments
As of Tuesday, the San Luis Obispo County Public Health Department is administering coronavirus vaccines to people in the Tier 1A group — healthcare workers, long-term care facility residents and employees and people age 65 and up — by appointment only.
The county is working to develop plans to vaccinate others in the Tier 1B group, including childcare workers, teachers, food and agriculture workers and emergency service workers.
For more information, visit RecoverSLO.org or call 805-543-2444.
To sign up for email alerts visit EmergencySLO.org/en/newsletter.aspx.
This story was originally published March 2, 2021 at 4:40 PM.
