Imperial Beach, California. (KGTV) – The first wave of Pfizer’s Govt-19 vaccines will be distributed to UCSD Medical Center and Ready Children’s Hospital, San Diego District Health officials announced.
While COVID-19 is at the forefront of everyone’s minds, officials are reminding people not to forget about the dangers of the flu. They say both diseases should be taken seriously to avoid overcrowding in hospitals.
Recently, the Imperial Beach Entertainment Center has been a Govt-19 test site. But on Saturday, it was changed to a county free flu clinic.
“Every year, we encourage people to get the flu vaccine,” said Dr. Denise Foster, San Diego District Chief Nursing Officer. “This year, it’s even more important because of the epidemic.”
Dr. Foster says the Pfizer Govt-19 vaccine is being approved by the FDA with urgent approval, and the county is preparing for a large-scale roll-out early next week. The first place to get a portion of the 28,000 dose county allotment is UCSD Medical Center and Ready Children’s Hospital.
“In its few days, we’re going to get another allotment that includes the county and some local hospitals directly,” Dr. Foster said.
But COVID is not their only focus. During the 2019 to 2020 flu season, more than 20,000 San Deacons had the flu. 108 of them died.
So far this year, the numbers are much lower due to social distance and concealment protocols. The county hopes to keep it that way. The idea is to keep people out of hospitals for the flu or COVID.
Christine Kelly brought her granddaughter to the clinic to get a fever.
“I had a bad fever in the past and I thought I wasn’t going to make it,” Kelly said.
He says he does not want to take any chances because of the spread of COVID.
“We don’t want to go anywhere near the hospital,” Kelly said. “We want to save it for the people who need to be there.”
By district, 84% of ICU beds have already been taken up by December 11th.
Talks of the COVID-19 vaccine are still in their infancy. But with Moderna and Astra Geneca approvals also expected in the future, the Imperial Beach Entertainment Center could once again develop into a Govt-19 vaccination base.
“It’s very possible,” Dr. Foster said. “Centers like this and so on.”
Tomorrow, the county will open another free flu clinic at the Tupman-Chavez Community Center from 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.