Hundreds of frontline workers received their COVID-19 vaccine Saturday at a superstation in College Area hosted by the San Diego & Imperial Counties Labor Council.
“The relief is what I’m primarily feeling. Just to be on track to get to some sort of normal,” said Nicholas Martinez, a San Diego resident who heard about the vaccine site through his wife.
“I feel so excited because now we can say that we are taking care members of my family and then the rest of the population,” said Beatrice Manjarrez, a San Diego resident who works as a home care provider.
The goal of Saturday’s superstation is to vaccinate people who work in childcare, adult home care, education, food service, transportation and janitorial services.
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“When you think of all the people who have died, and the urgency to get more shots in the arms, if we can get two thousand doses let’s do two thousand. I’d like to do this every weekend,” said Doug Moore, Executive Director
The Labor Council was able to obtain two thousand vaccines from the State of California in hopes of reaching communities that were facing barriers to vaccine access.
“This is really a model effort for how we’re going to make sure to defeat COVID-19,” said San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria.
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Gloria says its especially important to vaccinate people who are not able to work from home. The push to get people vaccinated will also play a role in San Diego's economic recovery.
“We need our hotels to be open to get tourist taxes to help us pave roads, pay police officers and keep our libraries open, but you can’t do it unless the hotel workers are vaccinated that’s why today is so critical,” said Gloria.
San Diego & Imperial Counties Labor Council partnered with American Medical Response to distribute vaccines. Medics with AMR volunteered their time for the event.
