BENICIA, Calif. (KRON) - In the North Bay, planning for mass vaccination clinics are underway in Solano County.
County leaders and health officials held a virtual town hall updating residents on the much anticipated COVID-19 vaccine.
Solano County officials are scouting potential locations for mass clinics and that is expected to launch next month. The concern now is getting more vaccines.
"We want to make sure that when we do go forward with a mass vaccination clinic that we are going to have enough supply of vaccine to be able to meet everybody's needs who are signed up for that the clinic itself," Supervisor Erin Hannigan said.
Solano county is still in Phase 1 of the vaccination tier. That's those who are considered high risk, frontline healthcare workers and first responders.
"Our pace is different than some of our neighbors because we actually have a lot more people in those higher tiers than our neighbors so it takes us longer to get to the lower tiers," Dr. Bela Matyas said.
As of Friday, more than 32,000 vaccines have been distributed in Solano County, half administered, a supply is reserved for the second dose.
The number of doses received from CVS and Walgreens, large hospital systems like Kaiser and Sutter are unknown.
As county leaders continue to work with the state to receive more doses, eligible patients should contact their healthcare provider first to make an appointment.
"Our goal with the vaccination program is to immunize the entire community," Dr. Christine Wu said.
Deputy health officer Dr. Christine Wu cautioned common side effects like pain and swelling on the injection site, fever, chills, tiredness, and headache throughout the rest of the body and insists both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are safe.
"In the case of these vaccines, the companies still had to demonstrate their safety and people before they get authorized including going through all the rigorous phases of clinical trials," Dr. Wu said.
Health officials are hopeful with two new COVID vaccines currently under clinical trials - both are expected to be approved by the FDA for emergency use in February or March.
Once the mass clinics open, there will be more people eligable to get the shot, it is projected vaccines will be widely available in the summer.
from KRON4 https://ift.tt/3iIreZV
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