WOODLAND, Calif. — MyTurn is the state's online registry for people interested in getting the vaccine; some users can also schedule a COVID-19 vaccine appointment at a local clinic. The tool first went live in January, but only for select counties.
Instead of waiting for the state's system to go live, some counties created their own registry systems.
Counties like Yolo and San Joaquin had at least 60,000 residents combined sign up to get notified when vaccines were available for them. Those residents who signed up with the county and have yet to get the vaccine are now expected to resign up through MyTurn.
Yolo County spokesperson Jenny Tan and San Joaquin County spokesperson Tiffany Heyer said their counties are working hard behind the scenes to ensure no one gets left behind.
"There is always a fear we are going to miss people," Yolo County spokesperson Jenny Tan said.
Heyer said San Joaquin County wouldn't start scheduling appointments in MyTurn until all people eligible to receive the vaccine on the county's initial list have signed up for a vaccine appointment.
"If we aren’t able to get through, we have plans in place to either assist people in making that transition to reach out to those on the list and help with getting set up at either some of the federal sites like CVS or Walgreens," Heyer said. "We really want to get through as many people on our list as we can before we are having to go straight to the state system that is all automated."
For Yolo County, Tan said the county is working with Accenture to get it, so the information the county collected transfers over.
"We want to save our residents as much time as possible," Tan said.
In the meantime, Tan said all people who are wanting to sign up to receive notification about the vaccine are being directed to MyTurn.
San Joaquin County is hoping MyTurn will help streamline the process and make getting a vaccine easier for people in the county, according to Heyer. Tan explained the current two-step system of getting a notification and then finding a vaccine would soon be a one-stop-shop with MyTurn.
But Tan said she is wary of MyTurn being a primarily web-based platform.
"I think we’re still going to miss people," Tan said.
MyTurn does have a phone number people can call to receive help accessing MyTurn or sign up for a coronavirus vaccination over the phone. That phone number is 1-833-422-4255 and can be used Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m and Saturday to Sunday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Both San Joaquin County and Yolo County anticipate being able to have all the functions of MyTurn available for residents sometime in March.