News form Riverside County

Riverside, CA: Riverside County officials activated its Type III All-Hazard Incident Management Team (IMT) to help coordinate the planning and implementation of a massive vaccination program for more than two million county residents.

The team will work seven days a week to secure locations and stand up large, regional Point-of-Dispensing (POD) sites that can vaccinate thousands of residents each day.

The PODs are expected to dispense thousands of vaccines each day once they are fully operational in response to the high demand for the vaccine.

“Getting the vaccine out within the community as quickly as possible is critical as we move forward,” said Board Chair Karen Spiegel, Second District Supervisor. “These large-scale PODs will ensure more vaccinations each day and more of our residents will be protected from the deadly virus.”

The county anticipates the need for multiple PODs that will be open once the locations are approved, staffed, and have COVID-19 vaccines available. The location of the county POD sites are in development, and will be announced as they are finalized.

Currently only those listed in Phase 1A, all tiers, are available to get the vaccine. To view a list of who is eligible to receive a vaccine, visit www.ruhealth.org.

The IMT began planning on Jan. 7 and was activated on Jan. 12. The team is comprised of representatives from Riverside University Health System – Public Health, Riverside County Executive Office, Riverside County Emergency Management Department, Cal Fire/Riverside County Fire Department, Morongo Fire Department and Corona Fire Department.