Pamela Cruz. Peninsula 360 Press [P360P].
San Mateo health care workers lined up Saturday morning at the county's Event Center to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, part of a vaccination program against the virus that has infected more than 27,700 people.
This was the first in a series of vaccinations for phase 1a health care providers, who registered in advance for the event, the San Mateo Health Department said.
It should be noted that the county is currently vaccinating according to the state's Phase 1 guidelines, with three categories of beneficiaries, which include health workers and residents of long-term care facilities.
The California Department of Public Health defines health care workers as "persons at risk of exposure to SARS-CoV-2 through their work in any capacity in direct or long-term care settings.
This population includes people at direct risk of exposure in their non-clinical functions, such as environmental services, patient transport or interpretation. It is estimated that there are about 38,000 health care workers in the county, while residents in long-term care facilities number 12,000.
The San Mateo Health Department states on its website that health care workers who are Kaiser Permanente covered plan members who fit into Stage 1, 2, or 3 of Phase 1 can obtain the vaccine by contacting their primary care provider at the health center.
In December 2020, hundreds of rescue workers, paramedics and firefighters received the first of the required doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine, as they are among the first to support people who are carriers of the virus and may or may not have symptoms.
At the time, the county's Emergency Services manager, Linda Allintong, said that for 10 months, responders had faced an environment where they had to be exposed to the virus, but now they have a tangible weapon to help fight the pandemic.
While Event Center branch manager Matt Powers said that while health-care workers have the option not to receive the vaccine, "almost 88 percent have chosen to do so, suggesting that the benefits outweigh the risks.
"People who have received the first dose, whether it's Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna to boost immunity, prefer to deal with the side effects because the vaccine is proving to work and they will be able to get on with their lives," he said.
