Best advice is to be patient, don’t try to call in for appointment, but rather use online registration instead…and hope you have an internet connect through your ISP.

According to Dr. Anthony Fauci, who was on  NBC News “Meet the Press” on Sunday, the U.S. is “weeks away, not months away” from considering the approval of two new coronavirus vaccines. Fauci, who is the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, is staying on as President-elect Joe Biden’s chief science adviser.

The vaccine candidates that Fauci is referring to are made by Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca. The Johnson & Johnson vaccine is interesting because in preliminary testing and evaluation, it can be given in one dose, not requiring a second dose as do Moderna and Pfizer vaccines already approved and being used on an emergency use authorization by the Federal Drug Administration (FDA).

Fauci told ‘Meet the Press” yesterday that, “I would imagine within a period of a week or so, or at the most, a couple of weeks, they’re (the pharmaceutical companies) going to be getting their data together and showing it to the FDA.”

There are also other vaccines out on the market in other countries and other pharmaceutical companies still working towards a vaccine. With numerous companies making vaccines, the tremendous need for vaccine doses (in the billions) can more likely be achieved much more quickly. But even here in the U.S., it’s going to take several months.

It is estimated that there have been almost 14 million vaccinations given in the U.S. so far, although almost every state is complaining about the lack of distribution and supply to meet demand, including California, which is in desperate need for some relief from the Covid-19 pandemic raging in most of the state. A recent report said that someone is dying from Covid-19 every five-minutes in Los Angeles.

According to a report in the Los Angeles Times, “…So many people have died in Los Angeles County that officials have temporarily suspended air-quality regulations that limit the number of cremations. Health officials and the L.A. County coroner requested the change because the current death rate is “more than double that of pre-pandemic years, leading to hospitals, funeral homes and crematoriums exceeding capacity, without the ability to process the backlog,” the South Coast Air Quality Management District said Sunday.

Locally, residents are complaining about Inyo County’s Vaccine Appointment Phone Number, which was overwhelmed with over 10,000 calls on its first day in use…and was only able to respond to hundred callers. The result: Busy signals even after repeated dialing. It does demonstrate the tremendous positive response from the public wishing to get vaccinated. Unfortunately, the supply is extremely limited.

Calling for an appointment in Inyo County is largely fruitless, so it is recommended that those wishing to get an appointment do so online for when vaccine appointments become available to people in your tier: Please visit https://www.inyocounty.us/covid-19/vaccine-information and sign up for the COVID-19 Vaccine Registration list. It is quick and easy…if you have a reliable Internet Service Provider.

There is no public hotline for a vaccine appointment in Mono County, which is just as well considering how well dial has been working. Here again, those wanting to register for a vaccine appointment are encouraged to use the online registration system for Mono County, which is: https://coronavirus.monocounty.ca.gov/pages/vaccinations.