Riverside County opens vaccination slots to those 16 and older

Riverside County is expanding the list of people who are eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccination, opening it up to everyone 16 and older starting tomorrow April 6th.

“I am ecstatic in my profession flight attendant being around all these people, who are still flying when they probably shouldn’t be unless they are fully vaccinated," said Michael Martinek, who's fully vaccinated. "I was a little nervous.” 

For Michael Martinek, it was quick, painless and easy to get his second COVID-19 shot.

“I didn’t have a problem once we became eligible it was pretty easy, and simple to make my appointment," said Martinek.

In Riverside County available doses are growing but not enough people are filling up the appointments. 

“We also have a lot of the people who have been the target. Our senior population have been able to get their vaccinations," said Shane Reichardt, Senior Public Information Specialist for the County of Riverside Emergency Management Department. "Now we're looking at what we need to do to increase the number of people that are eligible and try and get everybody else in there.”

Now, the county is  expanding  eligibility for the vaccine for people 16 and up starting April 6th. 

“Obviously, nobody in the system wants vaccinations to go to waste," said Reichardt.

At Eisenhower Health, they are ramping up their public vaccination site for this week. They are opening more time slots. 

 “This is very exciting so in addition to the 52,000 that we have been able to do thus far with the minimal allocations," said April Lopez, Director of Quality and Patient Safety at Eisenhower Health. "We are looking forward to more allocations and allowing us to do close to 8400 each week.” 

This new public clinic  is open Tuesday thru Saturday.

Tuesday and Thursday 11:00am -7:00pm

Wednesday, Friday, Saturday 7:00am- 3:30pm

You can schedule an appointment for the Eisenhower Health site: Click Here.

Staff here are hoping they’ll be able to reach more people. 

“This is the perfect time for us to public vaccination site as the tiers open up and allow us to vaccinate as people in the community as possible.” 

You can schedule an appointment for the county sites: Click Here