Around the turn of the year, when the omicron variant spiked the number of coronavirus infections, it was not uncommon for mobile vaccination units run by local nonprofit Champions for Health to administer hundreds of doses a day.
But things have slowed down significantly since then, with an event on Fairmount Avenue in San Diego’s City Heights neighborhood seeing 42 shots administered on Saturday afternoon. That’s how it has been lately, said Han Asoy, a registered nurse and senior immunization coordinator for the organization. Lately, she said, these kinds of events typically draw 50 to 100 people, with most turning out for second shots or booster shots.
During the four-hour event, on Saturday afternoon, a surprising fact occurred: Although the total was not huge, about half of those who rolled up their sleeves received their first dose.
“Today we had what we would consider quite a few first doses,” Asoy said.
Although one day’s results are not trending, some will know that COVID has resurfaced as BA.2, the more transmissible cousin of the omicron variant, begins to take hold in the United States.
According to the latest county vaccination report, released Wednesday, some 394,000 people across the region have yet to receive their first dose, though about 196,000 of them are under the age of 5 and have not yet been approved to receive the vaccine. , which leaves about 198,000 who are eligible but not yet vaccinated. Only 55 percent of those eligible for booster shots have received them so far.
Nancy Vidal, of City Heights, was one of those who showed up to get her first shot on Saturday. Having battled COVID in 2021, she said she had decided now was the time to start her vaccination journey.
He said last year’s hard sell to take the vaccination step struck him as a bit of a stretch. If this new vaccine was so good, he wondered, why were so many people telling him that he had to get vaccinated? Most of her family members were vaccinated, and seeing her progress, he said, gave him more confidence that there was no unrecognized or unrevealed problem waiting for her after feeling the little needle prick.
“I think you don’t have to put so much pressure on the person who is not prepared,” he said. “You just have to give them the time they need to make that decision.”
How many more will start showing up now that the first doses of the coronavirus vaccine were given more than a year ago? It’s hard to say.
Like Vidal, Taryn Jackson, a City Heights resident who stopped by Saturday for her booster because God asked her to, saw little value in convincing others.
“I do not know. It’s up to them, just like they should wear masks. Some wear them, some don’t,” Jackson said. “God makes people the way they are. Some can understand it and some can’t. It’s just like that”.
So far, 2.5 million people living in San Diego County have completed their initial vaccination courses, and 1.2 million have received boosters. About 3.1 million of the region’s 3.3 million residents are currently eligible.
Anyone interested in finding a vaccination center can visit; sandiegocounty.gov.
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