Allergic reactions to some beneficiaries of the Moderna vaccine caused delays on Wednesday at the new “Super Vaccination Station” in San Diego County, near Petco Park in the city center, health officials in the county confirmed.
Just after 11 a.m., NBC 7 confirmed that some people waiting for their vaccines at the Tailgate Park site are experiencing delays. Others said they were rejected.
NBC 7 contacted those who ran the station; a representative said the delay lasted about an hour due to logistical problems related to several doses of vaccine arriving at the site.
During COVID-19 County Weekly Briefing, Dr. Eric McDonald, the county’s director of epidemiology, said vaccinations have slowed after allergic reactions were detected in six vaccine recipients.
While allergic reactions are expected in mass vaccination operations, this amount observed on Wednesday was slightly higher than expected for that time period, so Super Station has slowed vaccinations so it can investigate, said Dr. McDonald. The site also changed the vaccines it used for a new batch out of an abundance of precaution, if the reactions had to do with the original batch.
A county spokesman confirmed that the vaccines associated with allergic reactions come from Moderna, one of two pharmaceutical companies with FDA-approved COVID-19 vaccines.
The Super Station has contingencies in place for any type of reaction. It is too early in the investigation to know exactly what caused the allergic reactions, said Dr. McDonald.
Supervisory Board Chairman Nathan Fletcher said the site will continue administering vaccines on Wednesday and will remain open until late to honor all appointments.
The new county “Vaccination Super Station” is now in operation at Tailgate Park, where UCSD Health staff will administer thousands of vaccines to health care workers daily.
The location is a partnership between the county, Padres and UC San Diego Health in an effort to quickly launch the coronavirus vaccine and administer as many photos as possible to eligible residents.
The site was launched to immunize 5,000 health care workers daily in order to administer the coronavirus vaccine to those considered to be in phase 1A-Tier of the state vaccine’s priority list.
Healthcare professionals in dialysis centers, primary health clinics, dental institutions and many more are now eligible to receive the coronavirus vaccine. UC San Diego Health employees will administer the vaccines at the new Super Station.
SkyRanger 7 gives us a look at the new “Super Station” vaccination that was opened near Petco Park on January 11, 2021, with the aim of immunizing 5,000 daily health workers who are part of the county’s Phase 1A level.
The new site has 42 tents, including four walking tents. The purpose of its opening day was to vaccinate 2,500 health workers.
Officials hoped to increase that number to at least 5,000 health workers a day and eventually vaccinate 500,000 health workers across the region.
Fletcher said the Super Station will continue to work by vaccinating health care workers. In the future, Fletcher hopes the site can extend vaccinations to residents who are 65 or older.
“We have not finished our health care workers and we will continue to work through them,” Fletcher said.
Denise Foster, chief health care officer for San Diego County, said Monday that the site expects to receive an initial delivery of more than 50,000 doses.
“A large portion” of the doses would be the Moderna vaccine, Foster said, while the rest were the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
San Diego’s Super Vaccination Station is part of a larger trend happening across California, as counties try to step up vaccination efforts as COVID-19 cases continue to grow.
California is turning baseball stadiums, fairs and even a parking lot at Disneyland Resort in Orange County into mass vaccination sites.