The county’s new vaccination superstation opened Friday morning at the Del Mar Fairgrounds for a test with about 288 patients, the same day a missed shipment of Moderna vaccine raised county-wide concern about the shortage. of supplies.
Vaccines will be slowed down due to limited supply, and in some cases appointments will have to be rescheduled. The county’s largest site, UC San Diego Health’s Petco Park Super Station, will not administer vaccinations on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, and appointments there will be automatically rescheduled, officials said.
Second doses will continue to be the priority at all sites. The super stations in South County and East County have enough supplies to get through Monday, and the North County Super Station in San Marcos has enough supplies to meet second dose appointments and a limited supply of first doses.
All vaccines were delivered as scheduled in about an hour on opening day at the Del Mar fairgrounds.
Another 588 patients are scheduled to attend the fairgrounds on Saturday and again on Sunday. Scripps Health officials said they hope to gradually increase in the coming weeks to inoculate up to 5,000 people a day at the fairgrounds if enough vaccines are available.
“I have to say it has been most effective,” said Teresa McKethan, 66, of La Jolla, who drove by in her SUV. “There have been no complications.”
He had tried repeatedly to get an appointment at the Petco Park compound, without success. When she saw that appointments were available at the fairground on Thursday, she went online and scheduled both her Friday visit and the second follow-up dose.
“People are very happy,” said Michelle Meyer, a registered nurse and Scripps employee for 22 years. The one at the fair is the third vaccination post that it has helped to install.
“I get a lot of people who tell us ‘thank you very much for being here,'” he said. Some have told him that it is the first time they have left their home since the pandemic began, and for them it is a sign that things could be returning to normal.
The vaccines are administered inside the Wyland Center, a building used for exhibits during the San Diego County Fair.
Scripps Health CEO Chris Van Gorder inoculates 66-year-old Christian Dollahon of Oceanside with the Pfizer vaccine on Friday in the new enclosure at the Del Mar Fair.
(Nelvin C. Cepeda/The San Diego Union-Tribune)
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Cars enter the building and are divided into nine separate lanes, each with three stalls where the Pfizer vaccine is administered. A nurse asks a few questions and checks for allergies or illnesses. The whole process takes about five minutes.
Each vehicle is then given a timer in a plastic bag placed in the hood, and the driver is instructed to exit the parking lot and wait there. The timer goes off in 15 minutes and unless there is a medical reaction, a volunteer takes the timer and the driver is free to go.
Continued operations are dependent on a weekly vaccine refill, which is not certain, said Chris Van Gorder, Scripps president and CEO.
“We are fortunate to have enough for the next few days,” Van Gorder said.
San Diego County receives a new supply every Tuesday, he said, but vaccination centers don’t know from week to week how much vaccine will be available. Additionally, the state requires centers to use all the vaccine they receive and not save it for a second dose.
The vaccine supply has been tighter in recent weeks, and Scripps had to return part of its supply to the county on Friday, he said.
“Each of these vials is liquid gold,” he said. “It is the light at the end of the tunnel for many people.”
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