SAN DIEGO — The county's first vaccination super station is up and running in downtown San Diego, located in the tailgate lot at Petco Park.
On Wednesday, there seemed to be an issue at the facility that has caused a major back up in the area around Petco Park.
According to the county, they had to temporarily pause vaccinations Wednesday afternoon but planned to be active again soon after. The delay caused testing to be behind for the day but they planned to stay open and honor all appointments.
Monday, Day one recap:
Officials said day one was a success and that things ran so smoothly, they were able to open up more appointments than expected.
"We scheduled 2,500 today and we've got our flow down," said Dr. Christopher Longhurst, associate chief medical officer of UC San Diego. "Since this morning, we just opened another thousand slots this afternoon. We expect those to go quickly."
A steady stream of vehicles made their way through the drive-thru site all day. Nurse Christina Gibson was among those in line.
"I think it's very important to keep the community safe, so we need it right now," said Gibson.
She told News 8 that without this center, she would've had to wait until next month to get the vaccine.
"These opened up, I was able to move my February appointment to today so it was really nice," she said.
Right now the only people allowed to get the vaccine at the center are healthcare workers in Phase 1A.
"We know this is our shot of hope to get through the pandemic," said Denise Foster, the chief nursing officer for San Diego County.
The hope is by the end of the week, as many as 5,000 healthcare workers will be vaccinated per day. The challenge, however, could be getting enough vaccines.
The county had just 8,000 vaccines left but expected to receive more Monday.
"We are expecting a very large shipment of vaccine today we should be able to take us through the end of the week," said Foster.
"Our focus is making sure that any vaccine we have in the county is going into arms as quickly as possible," said Longhurst. "Our experience is the faster we do that, the faster we're going to get more vaccine from the state of California."
The center operates by appointment only. It allows all people getting the vaccine to remain in their vehicles the entire time.
"I think we will see more of these in mall parking lots, amphitheaters fairgrounds, and things like that," said Dr. Longhurst.
The site will remain open daily from 7:00 am to 7:00 pm.
To make an appointment, click here.