If you might be signing up to get the COVID-19 vaccine in Santa Clara County, prospects are you might be headed to San Jose. That’s for the reason that smaller vaccination centers elsewhere in the county, together with Mountain Watch, are still overloaded and capped with appointments by way of this week.
Santa Clara County health officials have shifted gears in excess of the past thirty day period from obtaining pent-up demand and as well several vaccines to an abundance of pictures and not ample men and women showing up. The reversal has fueled considerations that young inhabitants and those people unwilling to get the vaccine may not get vaccinated, threatening the county’s intention of achieving herd immunity.
However perplexingly, that abundance isn’t going to seem to be achieving all county vaccination web sites. At a Well being and Hospital Committee assembly Wednesday, county Supervisor Joe Simitian mentioned he was instructed by county well being officers far more than when not to motivate men and women to get a vaccine from the Mountain Look at web-site and in its place find a shot from other services.
Simitian mentioned that the substitute web sites are rarely handy for North County residents, with 11 of the 13 internet sites taking new appointments located in San Jose. The other two were found in Gilroy and Sunnyvale.
“I am concerned, frankly, that we have individuals who both have to have to get the vaccine and are keen to get the vaccine if we would only make it easy for them to do that,” Simitian explained. “And by not acquiring a wander-in facility obtainable these previous several weeks, we have shed an possibility.”
The county transformed the Mountain Watch Group Centre on Rengstorff Avenue into a mass vaccination web-site in late January, making it a person of the initially county-operated web sites north of Santa Clara. Rapidly renovated in a partnership with the city of Mountain Check out, the internet site is capable of offering up to 1,000 vaccinations for every working day.
County Overall health Officer Dr. Sara Cody explained the Mountain Look at internet site has been at comprehensive ability for the past several weeks due to a mix of second-dose appointments and a surge in initially-dose appointments for teenagers who are now freshly suitable to acquire the Pfizer vaccine. She mentioned the site’s potential is constrained by restricted parking and other factors that make it difficult to scale up, which is why most inhabitants trying to find an appointment are going to be directed elsewhere.
The good news, Cody mentioned, is that the web page will have drop-in appointments readily available commencing Monday.
Inspite of the assurances, Simitian said he was involved that the Mountain See web page — a easy spot for North County residents — is getting below-utilized and could ramp up appointments. He insisted that shut and effortless-to-accessibility vaccination sites are a very important way to really encourage people who are hesitant or indifferent about having the vaccine to ultimately get the shot.
“I realize the fears about parking, but it is really a world pandemic — at some point we will need to be distinct about priorities,” Simitian mentioned. “I want to make guaranteed if the internet site has the capability to provide additional pictures around the last few of months that we not scale it down.”
Locate detailed coverage on the Midpeninsula’s reaction to the new coronavirus by Palo Alto Online, the Mountain Look at Voice and the Almanac listed here.