LEADERS URGE SOLDIERS TO GET THE VACCINE
MONTEREY >> The Presidio of Monterey began inoculating eligible personnel with the COVID-19 vaccine earlier this month and has already hit about 2,000 shoulders with Army medical leaders encouraging soldiers to be part of the solution to end the virus.
“We directly support a population of 10,000,” said Lt. Col. Zach T. Solomon, commander of California Medical Detachment. “However, we also offer the vaccine to other beneficiaries, such as retirees, if we have the vaccine available. This group adds another 8,000. Total population that we may support is 18,000.”
The California Medical Detachment at the U.S. Army Garrison Presidio of Monterey is conducting the COVID-19 vaccination clinic out of the Weckerling Center at the Presidio.
Beneficiaries include 18,000 eligible military, Department of Defense civilian, retiree and Tricare health care program enrollees in the Monterey area. The clinic also supports operations from 130 miles north in Concord and 80 miles south in King City, currently processing about 200 shots a day.
California Medical Detachment supports the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center, U.S. Army Garrison Presidio of Monterey, Naval Postgraduate School, Naval Support Activity Monterey, Fleet Numerical Meteorology and Oceanography Center, U.S. Coast Guard Station Monterey and Fort Hunter Liggett in southern Monterey County.
In a virtual town hall earlier this week, top Army medical leaders encouraged soldiers to get vaccinated as soon as possible. The COVID-19 vaccine is currently voluntary for them but following full approval from the Food and Drug Administration, or if President Joe Biden waives the option for soldiers to receive it, the vaccine may become mandatory, just as flu shots are.
During the town hall, Dr. Steven Cersovsky, deputy director of the Army Public Health Center, said that getting vaccinated protects someone else who might be at risk.
“As long as you remain unvaccinated, you can become infected and pass it along to other people,” said Cersovsky. “You’re part of that transmission chain.”
Vaccines for COVID-19 have emergency use authorization by the Food and Drug Administration, which makes them available for public health emergencies and outside of a research study. Though the vaccines are not yet approved, it is the usual first step for a new vaccine.
The COVID-19 vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna have been granted emergency use authorization and require two doses.
On Friday, the Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee met to discuss emergency use authorization for the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, which would expand vaccine supply and voted unanimously in favor of authorizing the vaccine. Formal authorization by the Food and Drug Administration is expected on Saturday. It will be the third vaccine made available in the fight against the coronavirus and is the first to require one dose. Shipments should begin to go out shortly after final authorization.
At the town hall, senior leaders urged soldiers to trust the science, and the Army, because that was the biggest way to ensure overall readiness.
“We are committed to doing all in our power to act as a force multiplier in this ongoing fight to protect the community,” said Solomon.
Supplies of vaccine continue to be limited, but the allotment to the California Medical Detachment comes directly from the manufacturer and do not count against Monterey County’s allotment of vaccine just as the VA Palo Alto Health Care System’s supply to the Major General Gourley Outpatient Clinic in Marina is counted separately from the county supply.
Just as the Department of Defense is working to inoculate a population of 18,000 through the California Medical Detachment at the Presidio of Monterey, the Department of Veterans Affairs is actively making the vaccine available to an estimated 17,500 Monterey County veterans, 65% of whom have not connected to the VA for medical or other benefits.
So far, 1,000 veterans 65 years and older have received their initial vaccination at the Gourley VA Clinic at two clinics held in the past few weeks.
“VA Palo Alto Health Care System is providing an additional 400 Moderna vaccination doses to the (Major General) Gourley Clinic to be administered Friday, March 5,” said Monterey County Military and Veterans Affairs spokesperson Jack Murphy.
None of the VA clinics have been COVID-19 walkin vaccination sites. Monterey County veterans 55 years and older already enrolled in the VA Palo Alto Health Care System are eligible for receiving the vaccine. Eligible veterans should call 650-496-2535 to register for the next vaccination clinic scheduled for next week.
For those veterans not connected to the VA, contact Monterey County Military and Veterans Affairs at 831-647-7613 or visit www.mvao.org.