VENTURA, California – Ventura County has established vaccination sites for the public to receive the COVID-19 vaccine free of charge.
The Ventura County Fairgrounds is already a COVID testing site, but now people are lining up outside another building to get vaccinated.
“I wanted to be vaccinated as soon as possible,” said Walter Wheelis, who lives in Westlake Village.
Wheelis said he is waiting patiently for the vaccine and is not nervous.
“No,” said Whellis. “I look forward to being vaccinated.”
Ventura County’s first vaccination site opened in South Oxnard, followed by Fairgrounds on Monday.
“We currently have two main locations and some specialized locations in public health facilities, as well as one for the first aid community,” said Barry Zimmerman, deputy director of the Ventura County Health Agency. “We are planning to create a location in East County, for which we will secure an installation this week, and then look for several other locations throughout the county.”
County leaders hope to have nine locations. The county is currently in Phase 1-A of the vaccine launch. This includes health professionals and people living in long-term care facilities. Just like Haydriane Occidental works in a dental office in Oxnard.
“My office was offering vaccinations for the entire team, so it is best to go ahead,” said Occidental.
The county expects to move on to the next phase of the vaccine plan in two weeks. People can register online once the phase begins. After people are vaccinated, they should stay in a waiting room for 15 minutes to make sure that they will not have a reaction.
“It really didn’t look like anything,” said Occidental.
Almost 15,000 vaccines have been distributed, and the municipality has just received another 10,000 from the state.
“We hope to develop the capacity of our vaccination systems to produce 5,000 vaccines per day,” said Zimmerman. “At the moment, with all the centers that we have opened, we are about 2,200-2,500, so we would like to double that by the end of the month. Ultimately, our goal is to get up to 10,000 vaccines per day. “
The county is also looking for volunteers to help with vaccination sites.
If you want to register to get vaccinated or volunteer to work at a vaccination post, click here.