BAKERSFIELD, Calif. — Governor Gavin Newsom made his second visit to Kern County this week, calling it a quote “vibrant and incredibly important part of the state.” His stop Friday: the mass vaccination site at CSUB.
The vaccination site at CSUB has a mission statement, to end the pandemic, but spread hope and joy.
Governor Newsom who just got vaccinated Thursday came to the site and administered something himself, encouragement to the public to get their vaccine as soon as eligible.
"You have that spirit that's defined by joy and happiness. Which should make you eager to take advantage of this holiday weekend. make your way over here,” said Newsom.
The push to get more people vaccinated continued on Friday for Governor Gavin Newsom, this time at CSUB’s vaccination hub.
“I’m just telling you objectively, this is one of the finest vaccination sites in California,” said Newsom.
The governor, making his second visit to Kern County this week, freshly vaccinated, now that anyone 50 and over is eligible to receive the shot.
Bakersfield Mayor Karen Goh, noting the significance of the visit.
“We’re bringing hope together and slowing the spread. And I am so glad that we actually have wonderful partners in our community, where you have three major hospitals uniting, we have our university uniting, but we also have our governor uniting with all of us.”
Following his tour of the site, Newsom projected the state will vaccinate 18.5 to 19 million people total by the end of Friday. He says this is more than any other state in the country, adding 2.4 million doses will arrive in the state next week.
Kaiser Permanente Kern County’s Senior Vice President, David Womack, says the CSUB consortium headed by kaiser Permanente, Adventist and Dignity Health can vaccinate 5,400 per day, but have vaccinated 5,600 in total.
“We don’t have enough people walking through our gates. We have plenty of vaccines, but folks that are in the eligible tiers right now. We need frankly the tiers to open wider, so we can have more people take advantage of that and put an end to this pandemic,” said Womack.
Kaiser Permanente Kern County encourages anyone 16 and over in the eligible zip codes to walk-in, in addition to anyone eligible available for an appointment through myturn. They are currently administering Pfizer vaccines, as Newsom continues to stress the importance of getting shots in arms.
"If people are unwilling, or hesitant, or think that we're already there, everybody else did it, then we're not going to get where we need to go which to end this pandemic, get it behind us, kill the disease before it kills more Californians.”
We did ask the governor if we felt that surpassing the state’s eligibility requirements for the vaccine locally was wise. He told 23ABC that this visit was a testament to the fact that each site has its own set of circumstances and needs. It’s information he plans to take back with him once he returns to the Capitol.
There were so many nuggets of information during this visit. Another thing the governor mentioned is that he’ll have an update on the California tier system.
