Allergic reactions in some recipients of the Modern vaccine caused delays on Wednesday at San Diego County’s new “Super Vaccination Station” near downtown Petco Park, county health officials confirmed.
Shortly after 11 am, NBC 7 confirmed that some people waiting for vaccines at the Tailgate Park site were experiencing delays. Others said they were rejected.
NBC 7 reached out to those who run the station; A representative said the delay was about an hour due to logistical issues related to the arrival of more doses of the vaccine at the scene.
During the county’s weekly COVID-19 briefing, Dr. Eric McDonald, County Director of Epidemiology, said vaccinations declined after detection of allergic reactions in six vaccine recipients.
Although allergic reactions are expected in mass vaccination operations, the amount seen on Wednesday was slightly higher than expected for that period of time, so Super Station slowed down vaccinations so they could investigate, said Dr. Mc Donald’s. The site also replaced the vaccines it was using with a new batch, just in case the reactions had to do with the original batch.
A county spokesman confirmed that the vaccines associated with the allergic reactions were from Moderna, one of two pharmaceutical companies with FDA-approved COVID-19 vaccines.
The Super Station has contingencies for any type of reaction. It is too early in the investigation to know exactly what caused the allergic reactions, said Dr. McDonald.
Chairman of the Board of Supervisors, Nathan Fletcher, said the site will continue to administer vaccines on Wednesday and will be open late to fulfill all appointments.
The county’s new “Vaccination Super Station” is now up and running in Tailgate Park, where UCSD’s health team will administer thousands of vaccines daily to healthcare professionals.
The site is a partnership between the county, the Padres and UC San Diego Health in an effort to quickly implement the coronavirus vaccine and administer as many injections as possible to eligible residents.
The website was launched with the goal of immunizing 5,000 health professionals daily, with the aim of administering the coronavirus vaccine to those considered in Phase 1A-Tier on the state’s priority vaccine list.
Health professionals from dialysis centers, primary health clinics, dental facilities and more are eligible to receive the coronavirus vaccine now. UC San Diego Health officials will administer vaccines at the new Super Station.
SkyRanger 7 gives us a glimpse of the new vaccination “Super Station” that opened near Petco Park on January 11, 2021, with a goal of immunizing 5,000 health workers daily who are part of phase 1A in the county.
The new site has 42 tents, including four tents without a lift. The goal on the opening day was to vaccinate 2,500 health professionals.
The authorities expected to increase that number to at least 5,000 health professionals daily and, ultimately, to vaccinate 500,000 health professionals across the region.
Fletcher said the Super Station will continue to work through vaccinating health workers. In the future, Fletcher hopes the site will be able to expand vaccination to residents 65 and older.
“We are not finished with our healthcare professionals and we will continue to work with them,” said Fletcher.
Denise Foster, director of nursing for San Diego County, said on Monday that the site expected to receive an initial load of more than 50,000 doses.
A “large part” of the doses would be the Modern vaccine, said Foster, while the rest would be the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
The Vaccination Super Station in San Diego is part of a larger trend that is taking place across California, as counties try to increase vaccination efforts while COVID-19 cases continue to increase.
California is turning baseball stadiums, fairs and even a Disneyland Resort parking lot in Orange County into mass vaccination sites.