San Diego County To Start Vaccinating Teachers, Other Essential Workers On Saturday

San Diego CA

24 February, 2021

7:55 PM

Description

By Chris Jennewein, Times of San Diego 11 mins ago San Diego County health officials announced Wednesday that vaccinations of teachers and other essential workers will begin Saturday because most seniors have received a dose and appointments are opening up. Supervisor Nathan Fletcher said vaccinations are being expanded up to the next group in Phase 1B, which includes teachers, school staff, childcare workers, emergency personnel and employees in food and agriculture. Fletcher, who spoke at the county's weekly press briefing, said there are approximately 500,000 people in the next group and cautioned that it will be awhile before appointments are easy to schedule. "There will not be half a million appointments available on Saturday," he said. " So we need folks to be patient." Fletcher said the county is keeping 20% of new doses in reserve to vaccinate K-12 teachers and staff. These appointments will be scheduled through school systems. Anyone else in the next Phase 1B category can make an appointment through the county's online list of vaccination sites or the state's MyTurn.ca.gov. Fletcher said 68% of seniors in the county have received at least one dose, and the county will continue to encourage them to get vaccinated. He said that as the county opens up vaccinations, Cal Fire teams will be sent into agricultural areas to vaccinate hard to reach groups. So far a total of 526,242 county residents have received at least one dose and 196,079 people — 7.3% of the popualtion — are fully vaccinated. Fletcher expressed optimism that vaccine shipments would pick up later this week, and would soon be supplemented with a new one-shot vaccine from Johnson & Johnson. Times of San Diego is an independent online news site covering the San Diego metropolitan area. Our journalists report on politics, crime, business, sports, education, arts, the military and everyday life in San Diego. No subscription is required, and you can sign up for a free daily newsletter with a summary of the latest news.