Gov. Gavin Newsom visits SLO vaccine site, sees ‘bright light at the end of this tunnel’
Gov. Gavin Newsom visited a coronavirus vaccination site at Cuesta College in San Luis Obispo on Tuesday to tout California’s efforts to get more doses to more residents throughout the state.
The governor has been on a statewide tour spreading the word about his administration’s push to increase COVID-19 vaccinations.
“There’s not just light at the end of the tunnel,” Newsom said at an afternoon news conference. “There’s bright light at the end of this tunnel.”
Newsom’s appearance at the community college came after a morning stop at a Santa Clara County elementary school and before an evening visit to a vaccination site in Ventura County.
“It is the utmost privilege for Cuesta College to play a part in the continued fight against the pandemic,” Jill Stearns, Cuesta College superintendent and president said in a statement Tuesday. “We are grateful to have a willing partner in the state of California, which prioritizes our students’ needs and employee health, and safeguards our local community’s safety and well-being.”
The governor has also recently visited mass vaccination and mobile sites in the Central Valley, Los Angeles, Hayward, Coachella, San Francisco and San Diego.
Newsom on COVID-19 vaccine distribution
Before the news conference, Newsom toured the county Public Health vaccination site at Cuesta and was joined by a group of local officials, including Public Health Officer Dr. Penny Borenstein, San Luis Obispo Mayor Heidi Harmon, District 4 Supervisor Lynn Compton and District 2 Supervisor Bruce Gibson.
The San Luis Obispo campus is the site of one of three COVID-19 vaccine clinics operated by county Public Health. The others are located at Arroyo Grande High School and the Paso Robles Event Center.
The governor spoke on campus outside the library and Dovica Learning Resource Center. He thanked local leaders for their efforts to organize vaccine distribution, saying “we’ve made real progress” but must continue to remain cautious about virus transmission.
“We recognize that we’ve still got work to do,” Newsom said. “And that’s why it’s incumbent upon us to remain vigilant over the next number of months as we transition out of this pandemic.”
Newsom said the biggest hurdle to getting more vaccines in the arms of county residents is “a scarcity supply constraint.” He applauded the county for administering most of the vaccine doses it’s received from the state.
“You’re doing it at remarkable speed and efficiency,” Newsom said. “The fact that you’re getting well north of 90% of your shots into people’s arms, out of the freezers in a very short period of time, is testament to the collective leadership that is assembled here today.”
The governor said the state will be receiving more than 300,000 doses of the new Johnson & Johnson vaccine in the coming weeks, which will bolster California’s supply.
Newsom: SLO County’s limited vaccine supply ‘in better shape’ than other counties
California’s COVID-19 vaccine roll-out has lagged behind much of the rest of the country, according to a January Sacramento Bee story. And San Luis Obispo County’s vaccine distribution has trailed that of many other counties statewide.
A very limited vaccine supply means the county has not been able to inoculate all residents currently eligible to receive doses under state guidelines. There aren’t currently clear plans to vaccinate eligible food and agriculture workers, for example.
A total of 69,202 vaccines had been administered in San Luis Obispo County by the county Public Health Department, chain pharmacies and local hospitals as of Monday, according to the California Department of Public Health, and nearly 10% of residents had received their first doses as of Feb. 25.
As of Feb. 24, the California Department of Public Health had delivered 10.3 million doses of vaccine throughout the state — 39,805 of which had been sent to San Luis Obispo County.
County Public Health officials have expressed frustration about the unpredictability of the state’s vaccine allocation, which was so small one week that officials were forced to close two of the three county vaccination sites.
Local officials have continued to push for more local vaccines to help fully inoculate all of the eligible groups.
Fourth District Supervisor Lynn Compton even referenced the desire for more vaccines in her prepared statements during Tuesday’s press conference with Newsom.
“Just last week, our Public Health Department administered almost 10,000 doses, and our goal is to vaccinate 15,000 people combined per week at these three sites — if we have the vaccine supply to do that,” she said. “So we are asking you for as many vaccines as you can get.”
Though Newsom noted that the biggest roadblock to providing more vaccines continues to be supply, he said that other counties are facing larger supply deficits.
Newsom said SLO County has actually received a 28% increase week-over-week in its vaccine allocations.
“That’s an indication SLO is actually in better shape than some other parts of the state,” he said. “We actually had to reprioritize distribution, including providing more support in the Central Valley, not just here on the Central Coast.”
Newsom added that there’s a county-by-county “push and pull” when figuring out where to send vaccines “because we are just not in a framework where we have abundance.”
“We are designing a system for 4 million vaccines to be administered on a weekly basis,” he said. “Candidly we are not even close to where we need to be. Some counties are doing great, respectfully not all counties are doing as well.”
Where to get a COVID-19 test and schedule a vaccine appointment
The San Luis Obispo County Public Health Department is urging anyone with COVID-19 symptoms, or those who have come into contact with someone with the virus, to get tested.
Free coronavirus testing is available at clinics throughout San Luis Obispo County. To make an appointment, visit emergencySLO.org/testing; you can register by phone at 888-634-1123.
As of Tuesday, the county Public Health Department is administering coronavirus vaccines to health care workers, long-term care facility residents and employees, some education and childcare workers and people age 65 and up by appointment only.
To schedule an appointment, visit RecoverSLO.org or call 805-543-2444.
Appointment schedules will be announced on weekdays around 9 a.m. as appointments become available on RecoverSLO.org and via county email alerts.
To sign up for email alerts, visit EmergencySLO.org/en/newsletter.aspx.
Check back for updates on this continuing story.
This story was originally published March 2, 2021 at 4:45 PM.
%20Cropped.jpg)