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Janitors are now eligible. | Courtesy photo by Michael Cox on Unsplash
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Custodians and janitors, public transit workers, and airport ground crew workers are all now eligible to be vaccinated, as directed by the state. Emergency responders like social workers who handle cases of violence, abuse or neglect and foster parents providing emergency housing for young people, are also eligible to be vaccinated.
The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health is currently coordinating with unions and employers to set up vaccination sites and make appointments at large county sites available for these groups. For the janitorial and custodial workers, Public Health is in the process of creating appointments this weekend on both Saturday and Sunday at the Forum and on Saturday at the LACOE/Downey vaccination site.
Next Monday, vaccine eligibility will open up to people ages 16 through 64 who have underlying health conditions or disabilities that put them at the highest risk of becoming very sick from COVID-19. These conditions include:
- Cancer, with a current weakened immune system.
- Chronic kidney disease, stage four or above.
- Chronic pulmonary disease, oxygen dependent.
- Down syndrome.
- Solid organ transplant, leading to a weakened immune system.
- Pregnancy.
- Sickle cell disease.
- Heart conditions, such as heart failure, coronary artery disease, or cardiomyopathies (but not hypertension).
- Severe obesity with a BMI of more than 40.
- Type 2 diabetes with A1c level greater than 7.5%.
- Having a disability that makes serious illness from COVID-19 likely; would, if positive for COVID-19, limit the person’s ability to receive care vital to their well-being and survival; or would make the treatment for COVID-19 particularly challenging.
Providers and healthcare facilities are working to use their health record systems to identify patients who have these conditions and reach out to them so they can be vaccinated. “The state will be releasing guidance on other ways people with these conditions can verify their eligibility to be vaccinated,” L.A. County Public Health said in a statement.
