EDITOR'S NOTE: This is a collaboration between digital journalist Joseph Pimentel and multimedia journalist Jo Kwon. To view the video report that accompanies this story, please click the arrow above.

ANAHEIM, Calif. — When it comes to administering the COVID-19 vaccine, Orange County leaders said they want to show the state how to lead the way.

At the opening of the county's first mass vaccination site, the Orange County Board of Supervisors and Health Care Agency said they want to show the state they can handle vaccinating millions of Orange County residents and those who work here who want the vaccine.

"We have the plan, the facilities, the staffing, and the will," Orange County Board of Supervisors Vice Chairman Doug Chaffee said during a news conference at the Toy Story parking lot at Disneyland Resort.

But with the county handcuffed with how much it receives from the state, the Disney super pod site will prove that they can handle distributing more, officials said.

More than 3,000 people received their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine on Wednesday as Orange County officials celebrated its first mass vaccination site at Disneyland's Toy Story Parking lot, a few blocks from the theme parks. Several rows of white tents filled the parking lot. Health care workers and volunteers stood ready as hundreds of people can be seen lining up and waiting for their turn to get the first of two COVID-19 vaccines.

"Today marks an important step in combating COVID-19 and reclaiming our lives and livelihood from the grip of the pandemic," Orange County Board of Supervisors Chairman Andrew Do said. "While we still face difficult months ahead, these vaccines with more coming online in the near future, we will triumph and overcome the biggest challenge in our generation."

Do said Disney approached the county and donated the use of the site.

County officials hope its first so-called super pod or point of dispensing site will serve as the template for the four other mass vaccination sites officials plan to set up throughout the county.

However, before it can open up more super pods, officials said they need to prove to the state that they can roll out thousands of vaccine doses daily in a timely and efficient manner.

"The state keeps track of all of the doses they are giving out," Do said to Spectrum News 1 after Wednesday's news conference. "Once they see how efficient we are in our operations, that's when we'll get more."

With more than 2.8 million coronavirus cases and 31,000 deaths as of Wednesday, Gov. Gavin Newsom said the state is ramping up its vaccine distribution program and pushing to vaccinate at least one million people by the end of this week.

Newsom has admitted the state's vaccine rollout plan has been too slow. The state received 3.4 million doses, but fewer than 900,000 have been administered. 

Orange County this week received 170,000 doses, Orange County Health Care Agency Director Dr. Clayton Chau said. The 170,000 doses are given to various hospital networks and medical facilities as well as to the OCHCA. The OCHCA allotment was 40,000, Chau said.

Next week, OCHCA will receive 35,000 doses.

"That can change," Chau said. "We talk to the state every day."

Chau said the goal is to inoculate 7,500 to 8,000 people a day at the super pod site at Disneyland. The county would not open up other super pod sites, a couple rumored to be at Knott's Berry Farm and the Orange County Fairgrounds, among others, until the county receives more vaccine doses from the state. Ideally, the county wants to vaccinate 40,000 people a day at five super pod sites. Chau also said they want to set up mobile pods to travel and administer the vaccine to high-risk populated areas.

"Again, if we only have 35,000 doses a week, we have to do the calculations, and we want to make sure we don't set up a second super pod site and have it sit empty or low volume," Chau said. "That doesn't make sense. It's a complex calculation that we have to do right. It's not as easy just to set up the pod."

Currently, only those residents or workers who fit the state and county's phase 1A criteria and seniors 65 and older can make an appointment to get vaccinated through the county's new Othena web and app system. The Disney super pod is not accepting walk-ups.

Do said the goal is to inoculate as many people as possible, whether it's the county health care agency or medical providers in the area. If the county sees that hospitals are going too slowly and the vaccines are at risk of being expired, "we're going to grab them, so that way, we can give them out."

Chau said the county has the right to do that. 

But before the county can ask and demand the state for more vaccines, it all starts with how well the Disney super pod operates, Chau said.

"The state needs to take notice of what we're doing here in Orange County," Chau said. "We need to send a message to the state as well as the federal government that we here in Orange County are ready. Give us the vaccine, and we'll roll it out."