SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — California Governor Gavin Newsom visited San Diego on Monday to tour the Petco Park vaccination super station site.
Newsom said he chose to highlight this area because of the leadership that the city and county have shown with mass vaccinations.
“The first county, the first city to put a site together like this. Success leaves clues. You inspired others throughout the state of California, the LA Dodgers, including folks in Northern California, Levi Stadium in Santa Clara,” said Newsom.
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Petco Park was the first vaccination super station in San Diego. There are now four sites in total, with others in Chula Vista, San Marcos, and La Mesa. A fifth is planned for the Del Mar Fairgrounds.
Monday, various community leaders spoke ahead of the governor, including San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria, County Board of Supervisors Chair Nathan Fletcher, County Public Health Officer Dr. Wilma Wooten, and San Diego Padres CEO Erik Greupner.
Leaders said one-third of the vaccinations administered in San Diego are given at the Petco Park location. Last week, the super station hit a milestone when it administered its 100,000th vaccination. About 5,000 people are vaccinated at that location each day.
Gov. Newsom said large sites like Petco Park are key in getting the masses vaccinated, but acknowledged that a major factor currently slowing the process is supply on a national level, especially with uncertainty in the number of future doses that will be allotted.
“As Chair Fletcher told me just a moment ago, they could double output here just at Petco if they had more certainty of supply, and again the states not holding anything,” Newsom said.
So far, more than 4.65 million vaccinations have been administered in California and the state received more than one million new doses last week, according to Newsom, who added that California is anticipated to receive a similar number of doses in the coming weeks.
Newsom also noted that not everyone can get to the mass vaccination sites, so efforts to add smaller sites and mobile vaccinations will continue. He also asked about the timeline for getting teachers vaccinated, and he hinted that there will soon be an update.
“We are prioritizing our teachers, we want to clarify that further and that will be part of what we hope to announce… well, I don’t want to preview anything but announce very, very shortly,” said Newsom.