San Diego County is ahead of the curve when it comes to vaccinating its residents. More than half of us, 53%, have already had at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, 28.3% are fully vaccinated as of Wednesday.
“My whole family is vaccinated. We wouldn’t have it any other way,” said Kat Denlinger of Carlsbad, who’s been fully vaccinated for about a month. Going out to Denlinger said most of her friends are also vaccinated, so they’ve been able to meet for lunch without the fear of getting sick.
Denlinger said she wasn’t surprised to learn people in San Diego County are lining up for their shots.
“It makes me feel wonderful,” she said. “We love living here anyway, but I think we have a certain joy of life here, and we want to get on with it. So, let’s get vaccinated and get on with our lives.”
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NBC 7 stopped people walking along State Street in Carlsbad to see how many were vaccinated. Most, but not all, said they were.
“Makes me feel good,” said Karina Vaca. “I know I’m younger, but I’ve got grandmothers that are still alive, so just knowing that they’re safe and people around me are vaccinated, it just makes me feel a lot safer.” Vaca added, “ It makes me feel pressured too, to go and get vaccinated.”
Numbers vary, depending on whether you get them from San Diego or the California Department of Health because of different reporting methods, but according to the state, San Diego County is getting more vaccinations in people’s arms than neighboring counties.
Orange County has at least partially vaccinated 43.8% of those eligible and 27.7% are fully vaccinated.
Los Angeles County has a slightly lower track record with 42.4% of its eligible residents have gotten at least one dose and 26.3% are fully vaccinated.
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A total of, 35.3% of Riverside County’s eligible residents have gotten at least one dose and 21.3% are fully vaccinated.
“Most of my friends are vaccinated,” said Maja Shipp, who was visiting from Los Angeles. “It makes everyone feel more relaxed, and we all want to go back to some normalcy.”
Shipp said she wasn’t surprised that California is doing so well in getting its residents vaccinated.
"I think we’re on the right path, and I’m from Europe where everything is not organized the way it's organized here so, I’m very happy to be here,” she said, laughing.
