Mass vaccination clinic returns to Sonoma County Fairgrounds to help slow omicron surge
SANTA ROSA, Calif. (KGO) -- In the North Bay, there's a new push to get more people vaccinated and boosted. Starting this weekend, a temporary large-scale free vaccine clinic is opening to the public at the Sonoma County Fairgrounds, the hope is more people will get the shots to decrease the number of new omicron cases.
Augustine Ortiz was getting his COVID-19 booster shot Saturday, he admits to putting it off.
"I feel like I needed to be a good example to my kids, they got their vaccines so I gotta do my part to show them we have solidarity," said Ortiz.
The Sonoma County Fairgrounds is now the temporary home to a mass vaccination clinic, similar to those which opened in early 2021 when vaccines were new.
RELATED: How concerned should you be of new omicron subvariant BA.2 if you're vaccinated or boosted?
"I want to stay safe, I don't want to get COVID," said Heidi Dilling.
Dilling is a Santa Rosa 8th grader getting her booster to stay safe.
"The county providing a service shows they are taking this seriously and for our kids to stay in school, we need as much immunization as we can get," said parent Klaus Dilling.
Public health officials say new cases of omicron have plateaued but it may be at least two to three weeks before they start to decline. 79% of Sonoma County residents are now fully vaccinated.
"That still leaves 20% not fully vaccinated, the hope is to get first and second doses to get that protection in the community up," said Sonoma County Vaccine Chief Dr. Urmila Shende.
RELATED: Could there be a universal vaccine for any type of coronavirus, not just COVID-19?
Ella Caughey needed her booster to resume college classes at Cal Poly.
"We need herd immunity it's great this is available, so people can get it anytime," she said.
This clinic is also helping first responders and public school staff, the new deadline for them to be fully vaccinated is March 1.
"I think people had a hard time getting in for appointments, many were infected with omicron and couldn't get a booster and staffing shortages made it hard for vaccine clinics to operate," Shende added.
The clinic will operate for the next four weekends from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the fairgrounds in Santa Rosa. Walk-ins are welcome.
VACCINE TRACKER: How California is doing, when you can get a coronavirus vaccine
Having trouble loading the tracker above? Click here to open it in a new window.
RELATED STORIES & VIDEOS:
- Should vaccinated people get tested if exposed to COVID-19? CDC explains
- How to show proof of vaccination in San Francisco or anywhere in California
- Here's everything you need to know about COVID-19 booster shots
- Map shows every Bay Area vaccination site
- MAP: See how many people are vaccinated in your ZIP code
