Del Paso Heights Vaccine Clinic Gets Supply Cut Off – What Happens Now?
DEL PASO HEIGHTS (CBS13) - A doctor's mission to gets vaccines into the arms of people who live in Del Paso Heights hit a major roadblock as allocations for first doses have now been halted with more than 3,000 people eager to get the shot.
Dr. Kawanaa Carter told CBS13 that just as Gov. Gavin Newsom announced big plans to prioritize getting vaccines to the state's most underserved communities, she learned about first dose appointment supplies getting cut off by the county.
"I'm not sure what happened, but all of a sudden the county started acting like we were doing something wrong," she said.
The Sacramento County Department of Public Health says a Del Paso Heights vaccine clinic was originally set up as a small pop-up intended to serve just 60 people, but demand has soared.
So far, the site has administered at least 2,500 shots and has more than 3,000 people eager to make an appointment.
So will this site be forced to shut down and what's being done to continue serving the Del Paso Heights community? We're getting answers.
We reached out to the county about whether the site will be forced to shut down and what is being done to continue serving the Del Paso Heights community. The county said in a statement:
"We have been working with this site to address the safety issues and working to pair it with another provider with them at the site in order to support the capacity increase."
Dr. Carter said she will keep pushing to help.
"All I can do is fight like hell," she said.
She wants to ensure the Del Paso Heights Community isn't left behind.
"You don't just shut down a process without trying to fix it first. If there truly is something wrong with it you don't stop it when it's doing good, you know, you try to fix it and I'm just going to tell you there is nothing to be fixed," Dr. Carter said.
Second dose appointments will continue as scheduled. No word yet on who the new provider could be or how soon appointments for first doses can start back up.