After months of being stuck at home during the pandemic, social workers are now tasked with helping older San Diegans ease back into society. NBC 7’s Dana Griffin has more.
More than 140,000 San Diegans who have gotten their first dose of the coronavirus vaccine are now overdue for their second dose, the San Diego County Health and Human Services Agency reported Thursday.
County public health officials said the half-vaccinated San Diegans in this bunch are either overdue for their second dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech or Moderna vaccine.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the recommended spacing between the two doses of the Moderna vaccine is 28 days. If your first dose was Moderna, your second dose should also be Moderna.
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The CDC said the spacing recommended between the two doses of the Pfizer vaccine is 21 days. If your first dose of the coronavirus vaccine was Pfizer, your second dose should also be Pfizer. The only single-dose coronavirus vaccine currently available is the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
According to San Diego County public health officials, a single dose of both the Moderna and Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine is significantly less effective – especially against new variants of the virus.
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“A single dose of those vaccines is only 33 percent effective against the more contagious delta variant of COVID-19, which has become the most prevalent strain of the virus in the United States and is likely to become more prevalent locally,” said Denise Foster, R.N., the County’s Chief Nursing Officer and COVID-19 Clinical Director in a press release Thursday.
County public health officials say anyone overdue for their second dose should get it as soon as possible – even if it’s been longer than the recommended 28 and 21-day spacing – to lower their risk of getting or spreading COVID-19.
In San Diego County, anyone age 12 and older is eligible to get the COVID-19 vaccine at no cost. Here’s a list of places where you can get your coronavirus vaccine in San Diego County. The county also has details on those locations here.
By the Numbers: Coronavirus Vaccines in San Diego County
According to San Diego County’s latest July 7 data on coronavirus vaccinations, 2,207,468 San Diego residents have gotten at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine.
A total of 1,893,523 San Diego residents are fully vaccinated, with either two doses of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines or the single-dose J&J vaccine.
The population eligible for coronavirus vaccines in San Diego County is 2,802,581 San Diegans.
County data also shows 4,360,265 doses of the coronavirus vaccine have been received by the county and 4,102,990 doses have been administered since the vaccine’s local rollout began in mid-December 2020.
Meanwhile, county public health officials said that as of July 6, there have been 283,376 COVID-19 cases in San Diego County (since the county began tracking cases in mid-February 2020), and 3,782 coronavirus-related deaths.
San Diego County is now releasing its COVID case data weekly, not daily.
