San Diego County to local groups: You bring the people, we’ll bring the COVID-19 vaccine

Doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine.

It’s the latest move to make getting vaccinated against the coronavirus more convenient

By Jonathan WosenBiotech reporter

May 7, 2021 1:22 PM PT

Organizations looking to immunize their members against COVID-19 can now apply to have San Diego County staff run on-site vaccination clinics, local officials announced Friday.

The offer extends to businesses, nonprofits, religious groups and others capable of hosting hundreds or thousands of people. Interested organizations can visit coronavirus-sd.com/vaccine, select “Request to Host a COVID-19 Vaccination Event” and fill out when and where they’d like to hold the event. County staff will then review that information before showing up with the doses and equipment needed to run the pop-up clinic — for free.

It’s the latest attempt to make getting vaccinated as easy as possible by bringing the shots to San Diegans rather than asking them to leave where they work and live.

“Hosting a single event can have the capacity to vaccinate hundreds of folks who may not have the time or the interest in going to websites and scheduling an appointment to drive to another location,” said Nathan Fletcher, chair of the Board of Supervisors. “Let’s take the vaccine to them. We have already seen tremendous success with this model.”

Fletcher made the remarks Friday morning at the San Diego Mission Bay Resort, one of the companies participating in this program. He was flanked by resort employees as well as Jerry Sanders, former mayor and CEO of the San Diego Regional Chamber, and Alejandra Mier y Teran, executive director of the Otay Mesa Regional Chamber.

Mier y Teran spoke about Otay Mesa’s experience holding five pop-up vaccination events with employers, with each clinic drawing no fewer than 800 people and as many as 2,200. The success of those clinics was a major factor in the new countywide announcement.

“These are workers that are in production lines. These are workers that the vast majority live in Tijuana because they can’t afford to live here. And they were going to have an extremely hard time getting vaccinated, getting an appointment,” she said. “This pandemic has taught us that we need to be flexible, creative, and, frankly, have empathy.”

About 1.2 million San Diegans have been fully vaccinated against the coronavirus, but the county’s goal is to reach 2 million by July. Local officials have announced several new efforts to bridge that gap. Some county-run vaccine sites now run into the evening, and Fletcher says the county is considering keeping certain locations open 24/7.

Several sites also now take walk-ups, meaning you no longer need an appointment to get your shot. And those who still prefer to book appointments can do so up to seven days in advance.

What you need to know about San Diego's COVID-19 vaccine rollout

UPDATED May 5, 2021 | 9:16 AM

Am I eligible for the vaccine?

Anyone 16 and up is eligible.

Where can I get my shot?

The region has mass vaccination sites in La Mesa, La Jolla, Chula Vista, San Marcos and Del Mar. There are also many smaller sites throughout San Diego County, some run by Sharp HealthCare and Rady Children’s Hospital. The county’s COVID-19 vaccine page lists the various locations and ways to sign up; we have a similar resource on the U-T’s website. Local pharmacies are an option, too. CVS is now offering walk-in (appointment-free) vaccination as well as same-day appointments. If you have a Facebook account, you may want to join the San Diego Vaccine Hunters group, where more than 6,000 people ask and answer questions about how to book an appointment.

If you want to make an appointment at one of the smaller county-run sites, you can do so through an online system called MyTurn (myturn.ca.gov). Several of these sites are now also accepting walk-ins.

County officials have said that seniors who don’t have a computer can call 2-1-1 for help scheduling vaccination appointments. There’s also a group called San Diego Vaccine Angels, which is helping seniors and those who aren’t tech savvy book appointments.

Health care providers such as UC San Diego Health, the San Diego VA, Sharp and Scripps have been reaching out to older patients within their systems to schedule appointments, but that is happening slowly and unevenly between providers depending on how much vaccine they have.

K-12 teachers and staff won’t have to schedule their own vaccine appointments, as that will be handled through a program run by the San Diego County Office of Education and California Schools Voluntary Employees Benefits Association (VEBA), an organization that offers health care benefits to school employees. Scripps Health will work with law enforcement agencies to ensure that officer are immunized and San Diego firefighters will go out into the fields to vaccinate farm workers.

Can I pick which vaccine I get?

Sort of. Some of the the county’s vaccine locations only offer the Moderna vaccine. Others offer the Pfizer vaccine, such as the Del Mar Fairgrounds superstation.

But both of those vaccines use the same approach to spark immunity against the coronavirus and are about 95 percent effective at preventing you from getting sick with COVID-19.

Speaking of which, you’ll need to come back for a booster shot three or four weeks later for Pfizer’s and Moderna’s vaccines, respectively. That second dose maximizes immunity against the virus. When you get your first shot, you’ll receive a vaccination record card reminding you to return for that next appointment.

The most recently authorized vaccine, made by Johnson & Johnson, only requires one shot.

How much does the shot cost?

The shot is free — though, of course, the U.S. government used taxpayer dollars to purchase the doses. Vaccine providers can bill your insurance an administration fee, but there’s no copay. And if you don’t have insurance, you’ll still get the vaccine at no cost.

What can I do after getting vaccinated?

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say it’s OK to get together with small numbers of other vaccinated people indoors — with or without a mask — once you’ve been fully vaccinated (e.g. a dinner party). If you received the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine, that would be two weeks after your second dose. If you received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, that would be two weeks after your shot.

The CDC says it’s also OK for fully vaccinated people to gather with unvaccinated people who live together, as long as those people are at low risk of developing severe COVID-19. And the agency has said that fully vaccinated people can travel within the U.S. without getting a coronavirus test before or after their trip or needing to quarantine after their travels. Those who travel internationally won’t need a negative coronavirus test unless it’s required by the nation they’re traveling to, but will still need a negative test result before boarding a flight back to the U.S. and must get another test within three to five days of returning from their trip.

Caution is still key. The CDC says to avoid medium- or large-sized gatherings regardless of vaccination status, and to wear a mask during large outdoor gatherings. Part of the issue is that you don’t have to have COVID-19 symptoms to spread the coronavirus, and many people still haven’t been vaccinated yet. Researchers say that throwing caution to the wind could further fuel the spread of the virus and even lead to new strains that vaccines don’t work against — undermining the whole immunization campaign.