San Diego VA not at top of list to get vaccine

The Veterans Affairs San Diego Healthcare System, which serves more than 86,000 veterans, is not among the 37 veterans sites nationwide that will be the first to distribute coronavirus vaccinations, the department announced Thursday.

In a news release, the department said the initial allotment of vaccines will go to front-line VA health care workers and veterans living in long-term care units. Those facilities are set to receive the vaccine as soon as next week, according to a San Diego VA spokeswoman.

The San Diego VA, which serves veterans in San Diego and Imperial counties, expects to get its first shipment the following week.

Only two VA hospitals in California — Los Angeles and Palo Alto — are among those that will receive initial disbursements of the vaccine. Missouri, with a veteran population about one-fifth of California’s, also has two VA facilities on the initial vaccine disbursement list.

According to the VA, those 37 locations were selected for “their ability to vaccinate large numbers of people and store the vaccines at extremely cold temperatures.”

In a statement Friday, the San Diego VA Medical Center said it is “disappointed” not to be among the first to receive them.

“We do have the ability to store vaccines at extremely low temperatures and to quickly vaccinate large numbers of staff,” wrote Cynthia Butler, the public affairs director for the VA San Diego Healthcare System.

The Pentagon, meanwhile, said it will receive almost 44,000 doses in the first phase of the vaccine rollout. Twenty military medical centers worldwide will receive initial allocation vaccines, including Naval Medical Center San Diego and Naval Hospital Camp Pendleton.

In the military, the first in line to receive vaccines — as in the civilian world — will be health care providers, support personnel and residents of long-term care facilities.