SLO County residents desperate for COVID vaccines travel hours to get a shot
The coronavirus vaccine has allowed many San Luis Obispo County residents to envision an end to a grueling pandemic — but it’s also caused frustration, uncertainty and hours of travel for those who’ve struggled to find shots on the Central Coast.
The COVID-19 vaccine rollout in California and the county has been slow, and some residents — unsure of when their turn would come or tired of dealing with a frustrating online sign-up system — have made the decision to drive long distances in search of a shot.
Some have traveled as far as Sacramento, Bakersfield and Los Angeles for their vaccines.
Most pharmacies automatically make customers’ second appointments, and county Public Health officials have been instructing those who leave the area for their vaccines to go back to the place where they got their first shots.
“We were really uncertain as to how soon SLO would move to 65+, so when we had the opportunity to make an appointment, we decided to do so,” said Judy Freeman, who got her first shot on Feb. 9 in Sacramento. “This will also help to make us feel better about traveling to see our kids or get back to ‘normal,’ whatever that is going to be at this point.”
Slow vaccine rollout in SLO County
Since the county began administering vaccines in December, many residents have grappled with uncertainty over when they’ll be eligible to receive their shots or able to schedule appointments once they qualify.
SLO County’s vaccine distribution — stymied for months by a lack of doses — has been slower than in other counties.
For example, California on Jan. 15 announced residents age 65 and older would be the next group eligible to receive vaccines. But the county didn’t begin making doses available to that age group until after Feb. 10, almost a month later.
The same has been true for food and agriculture workers, teachers, and residents who are disabled or medically fragile.
Dr. Penny Borenstein, Public Health officer, said in mid-February that she, too, has been struggling with the ebb and flow of vaccine doses and an uncertain vaccine schedule.
“My crystal ball is not just broken; it’s shattered,” she said in one particularly memorable comment.
Borenstein and other Public Health officials have blamed the slow vaccine rollout on a lack of available doses. But residents have also been frustrated by an online sign-up system that forced them to compete with other residents for appointments as soon as they came available on Thursdays.
The county has since switched to a lottery-based system to clear up these problems. But there’s still no standardized resource that shows residents where they can access available doses — either through Public Health Department clinics or at pharmacies that are currently administering shots.
And some areas are vaccinating a larger range of eligible residents than SLO County.
This has left residents who don’t want to wait for vaccines to scavenge around online or in person for doses — and, in some cases, drive long distances to find them.
Some SLO County workers are ineligible for shots close to home
SLO County residents told The Tribune they’ve traveled throughout the state in search of vaccines. Some people said they weren’t yet eligible close to home, so they went to another county that would allow them to receive a shot.
Others were tired of trying to access the small number of doses available in the county and decided to try their luck elsewhere.
Laura Such, a veterinarian at El Camino Veterinary Hospital in Atascadero, recently traveled to an Albertson’s pharmacy in Bakersfield to get her first shot, as she wasn’t yet eligible in SLO County.
She and her co-workers worried that a coronavirus outbreak might force their clinic to close, which would impact the animals under their care, as well as other veterinary hospitals that would have to absorb their patients.
“We just felt if we wanted to continue serving the community, we had to get vaccinated sooner than later,” Such said.
Such said she wasn’t sure why county Public Health didn’t include veterinary workers in earlier healthcare worker vaccine priority groups. Borenstein on Wednesday said veterinarians would be eligible for vaccines as part of the food and agriculture priority group.
“We really want to work together with the human health community,” Such said. “I don’t think they considered us a part of that.”
Kim Rennie, who works as a server at Taste! Craft Eatery in Paso Robles, said she’s considering getting her vaccine when she goes to visit her parents in the Los Angeles area.
Rennie said her restaurant has been following all the coronavirus safety requirements, including mask-wearing and reducing capacity inside. But she still knows she could contract COVID-19 at work.
“For what I do, I think it’s pretty important that we all get vaccinated,” Rennie said.
The county on Wednesday announced it’s opening vaccines to food and agriculture workers, which includes employees like Rennie.
But prior to the announcement, Rennie was frustrated food workers like her weren’t prioritized sooner.
“In my opinion, we’re front line workers,” she said.
Residents travel, turn to pharmacies after struggling with vaccine sign-up
Karen and Allen Dean of Cambria opted to get their first COVID-19 vaccination in Santa Maria — a two-hour drive round-trip.
Previously, Karen Dean — who recently turned 70 — had tried several times a day to line up a San Luis Obispo County appointment, ever since they qualified to get the crucial protection against the potentially deadly virus.
Then the county Health Department went to a lottery system, in which anybody eligible for the shot could sign up at any time and then be notified, perhaps as late as the day before, about when their appointment was.
That simply wouldn’t work for Karen Dean, whose daily calendar often includes at least two meetings and various agency-related phone calls. She’s a director on the Cambria Community Services District board and member of various district ad hoc committees, as well as being a member of the North Coast Advisory Council.
Freeman, who lives in Nipomo with her husband, said they still had active healthcare accounts in the Bay Area and decided to look for shots when they traveled to the area for a doctor’s appointment. They couldn’t find any in the East Bay, but they were able to locate appointments at a Sutter Health clinic in Sacramento.
The couple got their first doses the day before SLO County announced vaccine availability for residents 65 and older on Feb. 10.
“There was virtually no waiting, no lines, etc., and (it) was a very smooth process,” Freeman said in an email. “It was (unfortunate) to have to go back up north for the second shot, but again, my husband managed to combine it with a follow-up appointment in the Bay Area.”
Margaret Rowson, 68, of Paso Robles said she also traveled to the Central Valley for her COVID-19 vaccine. She drove to a Bakersfield CVS pharmacy for a vaccine on Feb. 15 after she had a hard time finding a shot in SLO County.
“It was worth it, as the supply here went so fast and was so low,” she said in an email. “The website went down a few times. It was frustrating.”
Rowson said she has a compromised immune system and asthma and has been especially careful to protect her health during the pandemic.
“Even after my second jab, I will continue safety protocols,” she said. “It’s the other people we need to be concerned about that don’t care or are oblivious and uninformed. Love Instacart! Gyms are so full of germs anyway — I prefer to walk outside, and I cut my own hair. Not great, but YouTube tutorials help!”
This story was originally published March 16, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
