COVID Vaccines: San Mateo County Reopening Mass Vaccination Sites; Access Remains A Concern
SAN MATEO COUNTY (KPIX 5) – After two weeks of vaccine shortages in San Mateo County, mass vaccine sites at the San Mateo Events Center and the SFO long term parking garage are a go once again starting Thursday.
"We were hurting, hurting in San Mateo County," said Supervisor David Canepa.
Ten thousand additional doses will come from the federal government and the state allotment is increasing by 29 percent.
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Just as the county is an opportunity to deliver COVID-19 vaccines on a large scale again, some are looking to move dose delivery from the macro to the micro.
"I think there ought to be a way for doctors to deliver vaccines. There are patients who need vaccine who don't have it and aren't going to give it any other way, unless they get it from the doctors that they trust," says Dr. Aaron Roland of Burlingame.
Roland said between the vaccine hesitant and those who don't have a firm grasp on technology, the current model is leaving people out.
"If they were in my office, I could get to them now, they would take it on my advice," he said.
Canepa agrees. He says his own elderly father couldn't navigate vaccination via his flip phone and other also need barriers to vaccination removed.
"We always assume people can use their cell phones, their iPhone - not the case. We've seen that in San Mateo County. You can't assume everyone can use MyTurn and figure it out," Canepa told KPIX 5.