Vaccines for teachers, police, agricultural and food workers could begin Saturday in San Diego County

Matt Hoffman photo

Above: A woman being vaccinated against COVID-19 at the Border View Family YMCA in Otay Mesa, February 24, 2021.

San Diego County officials said on Wednesday that those who work in the school and day care, food and agriculture and other non-medical emergency care sectors can get their COVID-19 vaccines starting this weekend.

As of Saturday, the vaccination pool will be opened to about half a million more people, although Supervisor Nathan Fletcher has warned that consultations will not be immediately available to everyone who qualifies.

“We need people to be patient,” said Fletcher, adding that the county will prioritize K-12 schools in the zip codes hardest hit by COVID-19.

As part of efforts to encourage schools to reopen, Fletcher said 20% of vaccine doses will be prioritized for teachers and school staff, as opposed to 10% indicated by state leaders.

The county will make appointments directly with K-12 school districts, said Fletcher, while all others who fall into phase 1B – including educators and child care workers outside of K-12 campuses – can schedule appointments through typical public means, such as that of the local county on the Internet.

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County case rates are declining at an encouraging rate, officials said, signaling a potential fall in the near future for the red layer of the state’s reopening plan.

Fletcher said more than 783,000 vaccines have been administered in the county so far, including nearly 68% of vaccinated senior citizens, and one in five San Diegans received at least the first few doses.

“We are getting vaccines in arms at a very impressive rate,” said Fletcher.

Despite the encouraging numbers, San Diego County also reported 658 new COVID-19 infections and 12 additional deaths on Wednesday, increasing the county’s cumulative total to 258,463 cases and 3,230 deaths.

This week, a new vaccination site was also opened in Otay Mesa and a “super station” for inoculation in Petco Park was reopened after a five-day closure caused by weather-related delays in sending doses.

The site at the San Diego Padres stadium in the city center – the largest inoculation center in San Diego County – has been closed since Thursday, with the severe weather that has affected much of the country, delaying vaccine shipments from the West and East Coast. Petco Park uses only the Modern vaccine, while other sites use Pfizer or both.

Appointments for second doses of the vaccine from Friday to Monday have been canceled and will be automatically rescheduled, UC San Diego Health officials said. People who had appointments were asked to check the MyUCSDChart website for updates.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has advised that people can wait up to 42 days between doses and still achieve maximum immunity.

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Nearly 80,000 doses of vaccine delayed by the storm began arriving in the San Diego area on Tuesday night, allowing all second missed doses to be rescheduled and general resumption of consultations for the first dose, according to county officials.

Vaccine quantities represent the doses expected this week and those delayed last week by severe winter storms elsewhere in the United States.

The new vaccination site in Otay Mesa will administer doses from 9:30 am to 3:30 pm and will be open Sunday through Thursday at the Border View Family YMCA, 3601 Arey Drive. The clinic will start with the capacity to deliver up to 500 daily doses, but it can expand to 1,000 injections per day.

In addition, the San Diego Fire Department began scheduling appointments for a vaccination post at the Balboa Municipal Gym, 2111 Pan American Plaza in Balboa Park. Schedules are available for Wednesday, Thursday and Friday and can be purchased online at www.sandiego.gov/covid-19- vaccination.

On Sunday, a website will open in Lemon Grove, operating from 9:30 am to 3:30 pm on Sundays and Mondays. The location will be at the Lemon Grove Community Center, 3146 School Lane. When fully operational, the Lemon Grove clinic will be able to administer 500 doses daily.

The county’s adjusted rate of new daily cases of COVID-19 has dropped to 15 per 100,000 residents, according to state data released on Tuesday. The county is still in the most restrictive purple layer of the state’s four-tier economic reopening system.

To move from purple to the less restrictive red level, the county’s new case rate must drop to seven per 100,000 residents. The county’s seven-day average positivity rate already qualifies for the red layer, at 5% adjusted by the state, but the county must meet all required metrics before moving out of the purple layer.

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