Vaccinations For Teachers, Police, Food And Farm Workers Can Begin Saturday In San Diego County

Speaker 1: 00:00 A whole new sector of people eligible for COVID vaccinations opens up in San Diego. This Saturday teachers, police essential workers like grocery store employees and farm workers will be able to get their vaccinations. That's an additional 500,000 people in San Diego who can now get ready for their shots, but will there be enough vaccine available for them in the next several weeks? That's a question County officials say they can answer. Joining me is Dr. Christian Ramers chief of population health at the family health centers of San Diego. Dr. Ramers is also on the county's clinical vaccine advisory panel. Dr. Ramers. Welcome back. Speaker 2: 00:39 Thank you for having me morning now, does this Speaker 1: 00:41 Mean all teachers, all police employees, et cetera, will be eligible to be vaccinated come Saturday, Speaker 2: 00:48 Starting on Saturday. Yes. And in fact it means more than just all teachers, but really all people that work at schools and then all people who are emergency services that are nonmedical, which principally refers to law enforcement and then with food and agriculture, it's really from the farm to the table. Really those that pick the food, does it process food and those that serve food as well. So a really comprehensive list Speaker 1: 01:10 Teachers are not being encouraged to make their own vaccination appointments. Can you tell us how that will work in? Speaker 2: 01:17 Yeah, so the County has, um, struck a deal with the County office of education. The County public health has struck a deal with County office of education to sort of allow them to manage their own vaccine appointments. That's how I understand it. And this has to do with the way that they're reserving a certain percentage of vaccines to channel them directly to teachers. Um, so as I heard the announcement yesterday, uh, the appointments are being encouraged to be made through that system. Now the County may, um, may prefer not to vaccinate at their sites, but I just want people to know that, um, there should be multiple ways to get a vaccine. Um, and if you go to your own private doctor's office, because we're through these criteria, I don't think that they'll turn teachers away. Speaker 1: 01:58 Police will they be contacted for vaccinations as well? Speaker 2: 02:02 So my understanding is that the script's health system is taking the lead on law enforcement. And so they should be expected to be contacted individually for their appointments. Speaker 1: 02:11 And I read the County firefighters will be vaccinating farm workers. Is that right? Speaker 2: 02:15 That's right. So when we think about populations that may be harder to reach that really can't take a day off work to come in and stand in line and get a vaccine. We have to think of more innovative ways to reach them. And so, uh, the firefighters Cal fire will be out there. Uh, I think actually in the farms and in the locations where these individuals work to vaccinate them. But remember, like I said, that that third category includes not just the farm workers, but a grocery store workers, people that work in food processing and meat packing, and then all the way to the servers. Speaker 1: 02:43 Well, those essential workers make their own appointments like at Petco park or some other vaccination site. Speaker 2: 02:50 Yes, exactly. So everybody else can use any of the other channels available to be vaccinated, whether they're at your own private healthcare provider, a FQHC or a federally qualified health center, like family health centers or at the super stations. Yes. Speaker 1: 03:04 And what about doctor? The concerns over vaccine supply? Do we know how much we're getting, Speaker 2: 03:09 We have hoped that to have a better prediction because it is very hard to plan how many appointments to have when you don't know exactly how much is coming. And I have to say it's gotten a little bit better as a vaccine provider getting more supplies, certainly, but we're still not where we want to be. Uh, it is encouraging that we're seeing more and more numbers come in. And then for example, there's a federal program that is going to ship vaccines directly to community health centers. We haven't seen a dose arrive yet, but we're encouraged by the fact that those will be coming again soon Speaker 1: 03:39 Now, good news this week, he was that Johnson and Johnson's one shot vaccine is close to approval. How is that expected to change vaccine availability? Speaker 2: 03:49 Well, I think it can only improve the availability. Uh, I've heard that they have about 4 million doses that we'll be ready to ship as soon as authorization occurs, which based on the data that I've seen. I see no reason that the FDA will not approve this vaccine. And then the CDC on Saturday will weigh in. Uh, and the company has said as soon as Monday, they would be able to ship so 4 million doses right away. And they've said, they're going to wrap up to 20 million, I think over the next several weeks. So it's only going to help supply Speaker 1: 04:15 Aside from the fact that this Johnson and Johnson vaccine only requires one dose. What other key characteristics sets it apart from vaccines that are currently available? Speaker 2: 04:25 Sure. Well, it is, um, easier to deal with it. It can actually be in a regular refrigerator for, I think up to three months, so much easier to transport and move around. The single shot is key because you just need one moment in someone's life to get the vaccine into them. And then I want to emphasize the headline sort of shows that the effectiveness may be a little bit lower than Madonna or Pfizer, but it's really not a fair comparison. This Johnson and Johnson vaccine was tested at a different time in the pandemic when there were more of these circulating variants and the deeper you get into this 60 page document that the FDA is going to review on Friday. Actually the better that this vaccine looks, the effectiveness was 85% at present preventing severe disease, a hundred percent at preventing hospitalization and death. And then there was even some information about asymptomatic transmission that was encouraging. Speaker 1: 05:15 Do you see a time coming when people will be able to choose which COVID vaccine? Again, Speaker 2: 05:20 I really don't in the short term and my advice to anybody is get the one that you can, as soon as you can, because all three of these vaccines are very, very good at preventing the most meaningful outcome, which is going into the hospital or dying. Um, we just don't have enough supply for people to be choosy. And honestly, for other vaccines, like the annual flu vaccine, we don't really have choice that's involved because we all believe that they are at least equally protective Speaker 1: 05:48 And doctor, what steps are being put in place to ensure that there is an equitable distribution of vaccines based on need in the hardest hit areas, San Diego County. Speaker 2: 05:59 Yeah. This has been something the County has, has been paying attention to for, for more than six months. And so we're doing many, many things in many different ways. Uh, but this is a, this is a problem that isn't easy to just flip a switch and change. These are decades of conditions that have led to the equity problems. So the County has a program that is reserving spots for people from specific census tracks. When they roll out to teachers, they are prioritizing the lowest core tile based on a health equity index schools and the lowest core tile. And then those in community clinics and federally qualified health centers are really targeting our neighborhoods that we know have been the hardest hit, uh, from COVID-19. Speaker 1: 06:40 And what does the lowest core tile mean? Speaker 2: 06:44 Sure. There's a, there's something called the healthy places index, which is an index of, I think, 20 or so socio-economic factors, educational factors that the state uses to determine what the social determinants of health are. Things that influence life expectancy and other illnesses, and have certainly been predictive of where COVID-19, that has been the most widespread. The state uses this to, to give us what's called a, um, uh, health equity index score, which is part of the blueprint that puts us in purple and red and orange tiers. And the lowest Courteille means the lowest 25% of those neighborhoods, uh, that can be specifically, um, prioritized for vaccine. Speaker 1: 07:24 Okay. Then I want to thank you so much, Dr. Christian Ramers. He is a member of the county's clinical vaccine advisory panel and chief of population health at the family health centers of San Diego. Thanks so much for your information. Speaker 2: 07:37 Thank you so much for having me.