County to hold town hall meeting
The event will work to clear misunderstandings, expel myths, provide answers
SALINAS >> Monterey County is sponsoring an informational town hall on COVID-19 vaccines Thursday, providing an opportunity for the public to learn more about the vaccine, how the vaccine is received and how it is being rolled out.
But with Gov. Gavin Newsom’s announcement Wednesday about expanding vaccinations to persons 65 years and older, more questions are sure to come up. At a COVID-19 briefing on Wednesday, Monterey County Health Officer Dr. Edward Moreno said that expansion would depend on getting additional vaccine doses.
“When we have sufficient vaccine, and resources, and commit the vaccine resources to appointments that could accommodate individuals based on age, we will be sending information out on how that gets done,” said Moreno.
With the amount of information coming in and moving fast making it hard to keep up Monterey County Health Department spokesperson Karen Smith said there has been a lot of misunderstanding and myths, and this event will aim to provide an opportunity for the public to get answers.
On Tuesday morning, the Monterey County Health Department tweeted: “COVID-19 vaccine rumors — If you get an email that lists clinics available for general public or because ‘there is extra vaccine’ do not sign up unless you are a health care provider or in tier 1a. These clinics are for health care providers only.”
The town hall event will be held in English and Spanish, starting at 5:30 p.m. with participants able to join the town hall through Zoom, Monterey County’s Facebook page or its YouTube Channel.
Send in questions to delapazj@co.monterey.ca.us ahead of time. Smith said this is the first town hall on COVID-19 vaccines, and if it goes well, there likely will be more.
People are encouraged to view communications from the Monterey County Health Department for more information.
At Wednesday’s COVID-19 briefing, Monterey County Health Officer Dr. Edward Moreno said that the county is still in Phase 1a and that progress is being made in getting people in specialty clinics vaccinated primarily through the hospitals, which have received additional vaccine doses.
“The dental community has been alerted and we are working with the dental society here in the area to assist in getting information out to dental offices and to let us know how many staff they have to help us in scheduling clinics with appointments and knowing what the demand might be from each of those groups,” said Moreno.
Moreno said that funeral home directors have been contacted following a similar process and that the county is looking at getting private small pharmacies vaccinated and working soon with larger pharmacies such as Walgreens and Walmart to get their groups vaccinated.
Moreno said primary care providers will be contributing greatly in getting the age group in Phase 1b vaccinated, in addition to other resources.
On Monday, Salinas Valley Memorial Healthcare Systems reported that of about 2,000 employees, 1,418 had taken the vaccine or about 70% of the staff.
Salinas Valley Memorial is using the hospital’s allocation of vaccines in tier 1 of Phase 1A distribution to protect every employee of its health care system who wants a vaccine and says its health care operations function as an integrated system, and employees in all components of that system contribute to its ability to provide quality care for our community.
“We are currently holding clinics to administer the second dose of the Pfizer vaccine to those staff members who received the first dose starting on Dec. 17,” said Karina Rusk, a Salinas Valley Memorial spokesperson. “For those who received the Moderna vaccine, the second dose clinics will begin on Jan. 26.”
Salinas Valley Memorial said it will support community vaccination clinics utilizing its Doctors on Duty team, which also supports public COVID-19 testing.
“We encourage people to view communication from the Monterey County Health Department and their employers for vaccination opportunities applicable to their industry classification or health status,” said Rusk.
Natividad hospital has offered all hospital employees the vaccine and administered 2,112 vaccinations, with about 60% agreeing to be inoculated.
Natividad CEO Dr. Gary Gray said he has received two doses of the vaccine and says he thinks some have not largely due to concerns about a new vaccine.
Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula has close to 3,300 employees and has been able to vaccinate nearly 2,400 employees.
As of Wednesday, Monterey County had 311 new cases of the coronavirus for a total of 34,072 confirmed cases. There are currently 207 hospitalizations due to COVID-19 and one new death bringing the total to 248. Six more people have recovered for a total of 13,988.