Santa Barbara County public health officials announced Friday afternoon that they will open vaccination appointments for education and daycare workers, agriculture and food and emergency services starting March 1st.
These sectors are included in the state B phase 1 vaccination plan, including people 65 years of age or older.
To date, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties have only opened vaccines to people over the age of 65, along with health care workers and long-term care residents, who are in Phase 1A.
“I feel for [SLO County Health Officer] Dr. Borenstein is in this situation because everyone wants to be open now, we can vaccinate this group and the counties can’t, ”said Christine Williams, president of the Atascadero District Teachers Association.
San Luis Obispo County public health officials say more than 22,000 people have been vaccinated in the county so far, and nearly a quarter of them have already received their second dose.
“It’s something I’m hearing a lot from our members and people who want their vaccines for themselves or if someone isn’t sure they want their peers to have access to them,” said Cody King, president of the Lucia Mar Unified Teachers Association.
Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Friday that only 35 of California’s 58 counties prioritize vaccines for educators and wants to change that to move forward.
“As of March 1, not only do we do this through our external administrator, but we also reserve 10% of the first doses,” Governor Newsom said.
According to the superintendent of the San Luis Obispo County Education Office, James Brescia, the health department is working with local schools and daycare centers to implement this request.
“All agencies give priority to face-to-face staff for vaccination when the assigned vaccination slots are available,” he said.
As some local school districts begin to open up, teachers believe the vaccine will be key to staying open.
“For some people, because of the risk to the health of their loved one or because of their own fact, vaccination will alleviate some of it and, again, it is not the only one. I have many educators in classrooms with medical risks that if they were to contact COVID it is a terrifying proposal, ”said Williams.
While some other counties have already begun vaccinating teachers and farm workers, Santa Barbara County health officials say they feel they have received a good portion of the vaccine doses.
“Normally, for a large county, they have more multi-county hospital systems that receive additional vaccines because, perhaps because of their large population and demographics, they receive direct federal partnerships through CVS and Rite-Aids, so it’s all about summarizes in the number of vaccines and sources that exist in this county, “said Van Do-Reynoso, director of public health in Santa Barbara County.
Do-Reynoso says the county learned last week that it would begin receiving at least 500 doses a week as part of a federal collaboration allocation, in addition to the doses received from the state, and that it plans to see different vaccine flows in the county. .