Petco Park COVID-19 vaccine superstation to close permanently after Saturday - The San Diego Union-Tribune

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After putting more than 200,000 coronavirus vaccine shots into the arms of San Diegans, the mass immunization site near Petco Park will close permanently at the end of Saturday.

A spokesperson for UC San Diego Health, which runs the site, informed The San Diego Union-Tribune of the closure on Monday. She added that UCSD hopes to get anyone still waiting for a second vaccine dose at the site their shot by the end of the week.

There are likely many thousands of people who are in that position. The superstation offers the Moderna vaccine, which requires two shots to maximize immunity against the coronavirus. More than 120,000 people have gotten a first vaccine dose at the location, but only around 85,000 have received a second dose.

Those figures don’t include people who got their first dose at the Petco Park site and went elsewhere for their second shot, or those who’ll be inoculated within the next few days.

Anyone who still has a vaccination appointment at the location will receive a message through MyChart, UCSD’s electronic notification system. The health system is urging those who don’t yet have a second dose appointment to schedule one by calling 800-926-8273 or 211 — but only if you also got your first shot at the downtown site.

The superstation, located at Petco Park’s tailgate parking lot, was the first mass immunization site in the county, and served as a model for other such sites across the state and nation. The county, UC San Diego, city of San Diego and the Padres came together to launch the superstation on Jan. 11. But with the Padres baseball season set to begin in April, the site’s closure was inevitable.

The superstation has opened, closed and reopened in sync with the region’s shaky vaccine supply. That has at times sparked widespread confusion and frustration among San Diegans who’ve been abruptly notified that their appointment was cancelled. And it has made UCSD wary of helping set up another mass immunization site, though Dr. David Brenner, vice chancellor for health sciences, says the health system is open to doing so — with the San Diego Convention Center as a possible future location.

“We’re delighted to help the county with this, like we did with Petco,” Brenner said. “But we really have to have a more sane vaccine distribution system going forward. Because otherwise, it just leaves everyone terribly vulnerable to all these cancellations.”

The region’s vaccine rollout has changed considerably since the downtown superstation first opened. More than 715,000 San Diegans have gotten a coronavirus vaccine, and the county now has five other superstations in La Jolla, Chula Vista, La Mesa, San Marcos and Del Mar.

Vaccine once routed from the county to the Petco Park site will now flow to these locations, as well as other sites scattered throughout the region — including a new site that opens in Oceanside on Tuesday.

The North Coastal Health and Human Services Facility on Mission Avenue, a block east of Interstate 5, will be able to administer as many as 700 shots a day, county officials said. It will replace a clinic that opened Jan. 24 at the North Coastal Live Well Center on Ocean Ranch Boulevard and topped out at 300 vaccinations a day.

A crew of 13 National Guard medics and administrators will run the clinic with assistance from the county. The new Oceanside location has scheduled a total of 50 first-dose appointments and several second-dose appointments for Tuesday. Both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines will be offered at the site.

The facility also can administer the new Johnson & Johnson single-dose vaccine when it becomes available, said Jennifer Bransford-Koons, the county’s vaccine operations director.

The site is located in the 92058 ZIP code, which has been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic. There have been around 9,619 coronavirus infections per 100,000 residents in the area, compared to roughly 7,926 per 100,000 residents for the county as a whole.

“This is in the middle of the Latino community that will be able to walk here,” said Oceanside Mayor Esther Sanchez.

The site is also within steps of the Eastside and Crown Heights neighborhoods and a short drive from the San Luis Rey Valley. And it sits along one of the city’s main public transit thoroughfares.

Residents within the ZIP code will have priority for appointments, but people from throughout the region will be accepted, officials said.

“This is a great day for Oceanside and a great day for the county,” said county Supervisor Jim Desmond, who participated in a news conference at the facility along with Sanchez, San Marcos Councilwoman María Nuñez and others to announce the opening.

Beginning Tuesday, the site will be open from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Sundays through Thursdays. Appointments can be made through MyTurn, the state’s online vaccine notification and scheduling system (myturn.ca.gov), or by calling 211 for older San Diegans who don’t own a computer.

Whether the new site in Oceanside actually doles out 700 shots a day will depend on supply, which continues to be unpredictable. Case in point: The Del Mar Fairgrounds superstation, run by Scripps Health, will close on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday due to a low supply of Pfizer vaccine. A spokesperson for Scripps said that anyone whose appointment is cancelled will be notified through MyTurn and automatically rescheduled to a later date.

On Monday, the county reported 178 new coronavirus infections, one new hospitalization and no additional COVID-19 deaths.

UPDATED March 15, 2021 | 9:50 AM

Am I eligible for the vaccine?

Are you 65 or older, a health care worker or someone who works or lives in a long-term care facility? If so, yes. You can also get the shot if you care for an elderly or disabled person, provided that you have a doctor’s note confirming that you are what the state calls an informal caretaker.

Teachers, police officers and grocery store workers became eligible to get their shots beginning Feb. 27. People with serious underlying medical conditions or disabilities that make them vulnerable to COVID-19 became eligible on March 15. Otherwise, state officials say that vaccine eligibility will be determined by age, with the vaccine gradually reaching younger groups of people.

Where can I get my shot?

The region has six mass vaccination sites — La Mesa, La Jolla, Chula Vista, San Marcos, Del Mar and downtown — which can each inoculate 1,000-5,000 people a day. There are also many smaller sites throughout San Diego County, some run by Sharp HealthCare and Rady Children’s Hospital. The county’s COVID-19 vaccine page lists the various locations and ways to sign up; we have a similar resource on the U-T’s website. Local pharmacies are an option, too.

If you want to make an appointment at one of the smaller county-run sites, you can do so through an online system called MyTurn (myturn.ca.gov). If you’re eligible to get vaccinated, you’ll be able to pick an open slot at a location near you (though availability has been limited). And if not, you can sign up for updates on when it’s your turn to get vaccinated. We’ve made a video that walks you through the process.

County officials have said that seniors who don’t have a computer can call 2-1-1 for help scheduling vaccination appointments.

Health care providers such as UC San Diego Health, the San Diego VA, Sharp and Scripps have been reaching out to older patients within their systems to schedule appointments, but that is happening slowly and unevenly between providers depending on how much vaccine they have.

K-12 teachers and staff won’t have to schedule their own vaccine appointments, as that will be handled through a program run by the San Diego County Office of Education and California Schools Voluntary Employees Benefits Association (VEBA), an organization that offers health care benefits to school employees. Scripps Health will work with law enforcement agencies to ensure that officer are immunized and San Diego firefighters will go out into the fields to vaccinate farm workers.

Can I pick which vaccine I get?

Sort of. Some of the the county’s vaccine locations only offer the Moderna vaccine, such as the Petco Park superstation. Others offer the Pfizer vaccine, such as the Del Mar Fairgrounds superstation.

But both of those vaccines use the same approach to spark immunity against the coronavirus and are about 95 percent effective at preventing you from getting sick with COVID-19.

Speaking of which, you’ll need to come back for a booster shot three or four weeks later for Pfizer’s and Moderna’s vaccines, respectively. That second dose maximizes immunity against the virus. When you get your first shot, you’ll receive a vaccination record card reminding you to return for that next appointment.

The most recently authorized vaccine, made by Johnson & Johnson, only requires one shot.

How much does the shot cost?

The shot is free — though, of course, the U.S. government used taxpayer dollars to purchase the doses. Vaccine providers can bill your insurance an administration fee, but there’s no copay. And if you don’t have insurance, you’ll still get the vaccine at no cost.

What can I do after getting vaccinated?

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say it’s OK to get together with small numbers of other vaccinated people indoors — with or without a mask — once you’ve been fully vaccinated (e.g. a dinner party). If you received the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine, that would be two weeks after your second dose. If you received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, that would be two weeks after your shot.

The CDC says it’s also OK for fully vaccinated people to gather with unvaccinated people who live together, as long as those people are at low risk of developing severe COVID-19.

Caution is still key, however. The CDC says to avoid medium- or large-sized gatherings regardless of vaccination status, and to continue to wear a mask and social distance when you’re out and about. Part of the issue is that you don’t have to have COVID-19 symptoms to spread the coronavirus, and most people still haven’t been vaccinated yet. Researchers say that throwing caution to the wind could further fuel the spread of the virus and even lead to new strains that vaccines don’t work against — undermining the whole immunization campaign.

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