San Diego County health officials announced on Wednesday that vaccinations by teachers and other key professionals will begin on Saturday because most seniors have received a dose and consultations are opening.
Supervisor Nathan Fletcher said vaccinations are being expanded to the next group in Phase 1B, which includes teachers, school staff, daycare workers, emergency service personnel and food and agriculture workers.
Fletcher, who spoke at the county’s weekly news conference, said there are approximately 500,000 people in the next group and warned that it will be a while before appointments are easy to schedule.
“There will be no half a million consultations available on Saturday,” he said. “So we need people to be patient.”
Fletcher said the county is keeping 20% of the new doses in reserve to vaccinate teachers and elementary and high school officials. These consultations will be scheduled in the school districts.
Anyone else in the next category in Phase 1B can make an appointment through the county’s online vaccination locations or the state’s MyTurn.ca.gov website.
Fletcher said 68% of seniors in the county received at least one dose, and the county will continue to encourage them to get vaccinated.
He said that as the county opens vaccines, Cal Fire teams will be sent to agricultural areas to vaccinate hard-to-reach groups.
So far, a total of 526,242 county residents have received at least one dose and 196,079 people – 7.3% of the population – are fully vaccinated.
“Even with disruptions in the last few weeks in the availability and supply of vaccines, we are receiving vaccines in arms at a very impressive rate,” said Fletcher.
He expressed optimism that vaccine shipments would increase later this week and would soon be complemented with a new, unique vaccine from Johnson & Johnson.
Show comments