SAN DIEGO COUNTY, Calif — The San Diego Association of Governments Board received a virtual update from San Diego County Health and Human Services Agency on Friday.
The meeting was called to discuss the rollout of the vaccine in San Diego County. The Director of the HHSA in San Diego, Nick Macchione explained the latest on why so many vaccines have been received but only about a third have been administered, and what the next phases will look like. "Our goal is to have pods and vaccination sites throughout the entire county like we did for testing. We know we need to be in all parts of our county. We're trying to ramp up where the vaccination sites are in south bay and all of San Diego including our backcountry area."
Macchione cited a combination of reasons for why only 35% of health care workers have been vaccinated. For starters, these hospitals have been consumed with treating COVID-19 victims over the last several weeks. Plus, there are only so many people who can administer the vaccine. Once more are vaccinated, they will be able to administer the vaccine, but they won't be able to see that number climb until they themselves have received their doses. In addition, it's only been about 3 weeks since the rollout began, and it's largely happened over the holidays.
Director Macchione stressed patience during these times.
Within Phase 1A, there are three tiers. They've now moved to the second and third-tier meaning they're coming closer to being able to open to those in the Phase 1B category, mainly some essential workers and those 75 and older. The HHSA also says a website is coming, similar to the COVID dashboard, where the public will be able to see how many people have been vaccinated in the county, and when their turn will arrive.
The department says they're also working to train several groups to administer the vaccines like paramedics, national guard members, and firefighters -- but they all need their vaccines first too. The idea is that once Phase 1A is complete, the rate of those being vaccinated will rise dramatically. They'll also be creating what they call POD's or Points of Dispensing where people can go in large numbers to receive their vaccine.