The following is an excerpt of an article by Barbara Feder Ostrov of CalMatters.org. The entire report is available here.
Sascha Hughes-Caley was a little uncertain as she registered with a state website promising to connect volunteers with COVID-19 vaccination clinics that needed help. She had time to volunteer after being laid off from her educational technology job, but she was still caring for her toddler and wasn’t sure she could handle a long shift.
Hughes-Caley heard nothing about volunteer opportunities for several weeks, then she was referred to a Santa Clara County organization and was asked to fill out paperwork.
“There were never any clear instructions on what I was supposed to do, who I was supposed to contact,” said Hughes-Caley, 36, of San Jose. “I felt like it was not worth it.”
So she gave up.
When state officials launched their MyTurn Volunteer website in early March, they promised that volunteers would be eligible for — although not guaranteed — a still-scarce vaccine dose after working just one four-hour shift.
More than 251,000 Californians signed up, some hoping to get an early shot. Others just wanted to help.
But as of last week, only 379 people — .001 percent of those who signed up — were able to book shifts through the site, according to California Volunteers, a department in Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office that oversees the site.
As a result, the Newsom administration failed to capitalize on a potential team of perhaps hundreds of thousands of volunteers to help administer vaccinations.
MyTurn Volunteer is part of California’s troubled, $50 million MyTurn vaccine management system that was hastily built to distribute vaccines and give people a one-stop place to book appointments. A recent CalMatters investigation found that appointments booked on MyTurn accounted for only about 27 percent of doses given each day across the state.
There have been few opportunities listed on the MyTurn Volunteer site. About 600 slots — people could sign up for multiple shifts — were posted online since its March launch, according to Cristina Valdivia, a California Volunteers spokeswoman.
By May 7, only two clinics, in Stockton and Buena Park, listed volunteer opportunities, Valdivia said. In a May 17 email to people who signed up with MyTurn Volunteer, the state highlighted four new COVID-19 vaccination volunteer opportunities — but only one could be booked through MyTurn Volunteer.
“Those numbers are stunningly low and that says the supply of people wanting to volunteer far exceeds the places that need and can accommodate volunteers through this program,” said Jan Masaoka, CEO of the California Association of Nonprofits. “That’s sad for the people who signed up on a system that wasn’t ready for them.”
Only about 2,200 volunteer hours statewide have been logged through the site, Valdivia said. Nearly all, about 2,000, were in rural Sierra Nevada foothill communities in Inyo County, which served as a test case for the site, according to Brianne Chappell-McGovern, the county’s disaster preparedness and prevention specialist.
Volunteer and nonprofit leaders say the California program failed to engage local organizations in planning early on, relying instead on expensive tech solutions in a field that’s all about the local human touch.
