Gov. Newsom visits Petco Park vaccination superstation, praises San Diego’s efforts

California Gov. Gavin Newsom visited the Petco Park Vaccination Superstation on Monday, where more than 5,000 San Diegans from eligible groups are vaccinated each day.

Newsom’s visit included a tour of the site and was used in part to congratulate leadership and volunteers in San Diego, which launched the state’s first vaccination superstation last month.

“Let me focus now on why I came here to San Diego, and that was to acknowledge leadership, demonstrable leadership, leadership that is now truly leading the state of California,” Newsom said during a press conference on the Padres field. “San Diego was the first county, the first city to put a site together like this.”

Newsom’s visit comes as the pace of San Diego’s pandemic continues to decrease. Monday’s county COVID tracking report lists 698 new cases. Though still large enough to keep the region from moving forward in the state’s four-tier reopening system, the number is the lowest single-day new-case total reported by the county health department since Nov. 12, according to county records. Total COVID-related hospitalizations also continued to decline, reaching 1,072 Sunday.

The superstation at Petco was opened in a partnership between the County of San Diego, the San Diego Padres and UC San Diego Health.

As of last week, there have been more than 100,000 doses of the vaccine administered at Petco Park, accounting for about a third of the region’s total administered shots, said Erik Greupner, San Diego Padres CEO.

Greupner added that helping out in the region’s vaccination efforts has been a “passion project” for the employees and that it has brought the staff joy as an organization to help out in this way.

“The Padres are proud and honored to play a role in making this possible and successful,” Greupner said. “Vaccinating San Diegans and every Californian will move us past this pandemic and save lives.”

California Governor Gavin Newsom speaks to officials before a press conference at Petco Park on Monday, February 8, 2021 in San Diego, California.

(Sandy Huffaker / For The San Diego Union-Tribune)

San Diego County has administered more than half a million doses of the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines since the effort began in December, Board of Supervisors Chair Nathan Fletcher said.

The governor’s and state government’s support have been a critical component in making the superstation successful, San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria said during the press conference.

“The COVID-19 pandemic is the most devastating and complex public health crisis our state has faced in our lifetime, and Gov. Newsom has been up to the challenge,” Gloria said. “It hasn’t been easy, but for him and for all of us, including the legislature, have worked day and night for a year straight to keep us safe and to get our economy going.”

New communication channels between the federal and state governments have allowed governors to have a better sense of clarity of when and how many doses of vaccines they can expect to receive, Newsom said.

Last week, California received a little more than a million vaccine doses from the federal government, but about 594,000 of them were first doses. The state will receive about the same number of new doses this week, and about 1.1 million doses are expected to arrive next week.

Newsom said that’s not enough to address the vaccination needs of the 40 million people living throughout the state.

“We need to see that ramped up, we’re going to need to see more doses coming into the state of California in order to see these mass sites operational and to keep things moving,” Newsom said.

California Governor Gavin Newsom speaks to members of the media during a press conference at Petco Park on Monday.

(Sandy Huffaker / For The San Diego Union-Tribune)

Although there is capacity to double the output at Petco Park, the major hindrance has been the scarcity of available doses compared to the demand.

In some counties throughout the state, including Los Angeles, first dose appointments have been paused to prioritize getting second doses out to those who have received their initial shot in a timely manner.

Dr. Mark Ghaly, secretary of the California Health and Human Services, said second dose prioritization will likely continue as doses of the vaccination remain scarce until production is able to meet demand.

“Nationwide, this is going to be a theme that we will see, with a number of people storing second doses to make sure that it’s available there and the consistency of supply,” Ghaly said.

No vaccination appointments have been held back thus far in San Diego County, Fletcher added, but second dose appointments will be honored first if supply issues arise. Any difference between the total number of available doses and doses needed for second shots will be used for those receiving the first dose.

Newsom also previewed some upcoming announcements that should be rolling out over the next few weeks, including a partnership with Blue Shield and Kaiser Permanente to administer shots of the vaccine that’s on track to be announced next Monday.

The state government is also working on efforts to more equitably administer the vaccine, and to allocate more doses to those living with developmental disabilities or with underlying medical conditions that put them at risk for the coronavirus disease. A mass vaccination site will soon be opened in the Central Valley,

Reopening schools safely is a priority, the governor said, and each county within the state has some flexibility within the state’s guidelines in terms of when to vaccinate different groups. He said they are currently working to get schools opened quickly, especially for kids with special needs and those who don’t have access to devices to do distance learning.

“Flexibility is challenging when there is scarcity, and I am mindful of that in terms of the prioritization of tiers,” Newsom said.

An announcement will soon be made that prioritizes the vaccination of teachers in support of reopening public schools.

U-T reporter Paul Sisson contributed to this report.