Trying to get a COVID vaccine in SLO County? Seniors now have a new place to sign up
A San Luis Obispo County hospital has started administering coronavirus vaccines to people outside of their own staff.
French Hospital Medical Center, a Dignity Health hospital in San Luis Obispo, had administered more than 1,900 coronavirus vaccines to employees and people 75 years old and older as of Tuesday, according to Sara San Juan, Dignity Health director of marketing and communications.
San Juan said the first public vaccination clinic was held about three weeks ago.
In an email to The Tribune, San Juan wrote that all who are eligible for COVID-19 vaccines according to San Luis Obispo County Public Health Department guidelines may register for appointments at French Hospital as they become available.
Patients do not need to have a Dignity Health primary care provider to receive a vaccination at French Hospital, San Juan wrote.
According to French Hospital chief medical officer Jim Malone, vaccinations have been administered Monday through Friday on a limited schedule.
About 120 to 180 people have received a vaccine through French Hospital each day, Malone said.
“It’s a little bit dictated by staff available because all the staff who are working so hard in our vaccine clinic have regular full-time jobs in the hospital,” Malone said. “It’s also a little bit dictated by supply of vaccine that’s given to us.”
Malone said that Common Spirit Health, Dignity Health’s parent company, is allocated vaccines from the California Department of Public Health. Those are then distributed to Common Spirit Health’s facilities, including French Hospital.
“We have no influence the what, how or when (we get the vaccine), but everything that we get, we commit to using,” Malone said.
“Sometimes we get less than we would have hoped for,” he added, “so we adjust our schedule and use what we get available, sometimes we get more so that we try to scale up.”
According to Malone, some of the vaccines administered at French Hospital are kept at Marian Regional Medical Center in Santa Maria until they are needed.
Malone said the Santa Maria hospital has a freezer that is cold enough for the Pfizer vaccines, and stores Dignity Health’s stock of the Pfizer product. Meanwhile, Moderna vaccines may be kept at French Hospital because they do not require a deep freezer.
Where can SLO County residents be vaccinated for coronavirus?
At this time, French Hospital Medical Center is the only San Luis Obispo County hospital with a COVID-19 vaccination clinic open to non-employees.
According to Tenet Health Central Coast, which owns and operates Twin Cities Community Hospital in Templeton and Sierra Vista Regional Medical Center in San Luis Obispo, the hospital group has not yet administered vaccinations to nonemployees.
“Tenet Health Central Coast continues to work with the County of San Luis Obispo Public Health Department to leverage our expertise and resources with the goal of helping get vaccinations to the public as soon as they become available,” a Tenet Health statement read.
The hospital group said it is working with the San Luis Obispo Vaccination Task Force, with three Tenet Health executives serving in an “advisory capacity.”
“Until we achieve significant rates of vaccination in our communities, the most effective safety measures we can take against COVID-19 continue to be wearing a mask, washing our hands and maintaining social distance,” the Tenet Health statement read.
Some pharmacies, including Vons and Albertsons, have began vaccinating residents ages 75 and up, according to the county. Yet supplies are limited.
Other pharmacies, such as CVS, have administered vaccines to long-term care facility residents in partnership with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, but have yet to open their vaccination clinics to the public.
How many people has SLO County vaccinated?
The San Luis Obispo County Public Health Department had received a total of 25,576 first and second doses of Moderna and Pfizer coronavirus vaccines as of Jan. 29, according to the county.
During the week of Jan. 25 to Jan. 29, the county received 1,000 second-dose vaccines and 1,916 first-dose vaccines.
According to the county, 15,511 people had received coronavirus vaccines from the county Public Health Department — and 3,171 had received both their first and second doses, as of Jan. 29.
Additionally, more than 1,900 people, including employees, had been vaccinated through French Hospital, according to Dignity Health.
Vaccine data from Tenet Health and chain pharmacies was not immediately available.
According to Tenet Health, most of their staff have been vaccinated.
How to sign up for COVID-19 vaccination at SLO hospital
San Luis Obispo County Public Health and French Hospital are only administering vaccines to people in Phase 1A and Phase 1B — health care workers, skilled nursing facility employees and people age 75 and older.
Malone advised that people seeking coronavirus vaccinations to first check with the San Luis Obispo County Public Health Department at Recoverslo.org.
“I generally recommend that if people are looking for the next available option, they start at the county website because then they’ll be able to see what the county has available and then what French has available and can see what works best for them,” he said.
Vaccine appointments can be booked directly through French Hospital at DignityHealth.org/central-coast/locations/frechhospital/coronavirus.
Vaccines administered through Albertsons Companies can be scheduled at mhealthappointments.com/covidappt.
Vaccines are administered at three county sites — in San Luis Obispo, Paso Robles and Arroyo Grande.
Appointments through the San Luis Obispo County Public Health Department can be made online at RecoverSLO.org/VaccineRegistration.
They can also be made via phone at 805-543-2444. The county’s Phone Assistance Center is now available seven days a week from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Residents can also receive email alerts about vaccinations by signing up at EmergencySLO.org/en/newsletter.
This story was originally published February 3, 2021 at 5:05 AM with the headline "Trying to get a COVID vaccine in SLO County? Seniors now have a new place to sign up."
